Last night, after innumerable false starts, there was an announcement of a “framework peace deal” between the United States and Iran. Ironically, at least to me, this came at the same time that I needed to return a phone message from Baton Rouge Friends Meeting asking Quaker House if we had an update to our statement of February 28 about the start of the war. So, it seems the right time to say something new about the last few months.
But it isn’t really going to be anything new or wise. Because there is nothing wise that can be said about a stupid war that was started without a reason, was waged badly and saw the commission of yet more war crimes and now seems to be ending without even a whimper much less a bang.
We don’t really know why this war started. Was it because the current administration needed to get people to stop talking about the Epstein files? Or because the accused criminal running Israel needed a new excuse to avoid being pushed out of office? Or because the leadership of the Department of Defense discovered that the word “obliterated” may not mean what they thought it means? Or was it for any of the multiple other reasons given in the first days of the attacks? It is nice of the people currently running the government to give future historians so many topics for thesis papers.
What we do know is that it took less than a day for the United States to kill at least 156 people at a school that stopped being a military site more than a decade prior to 2026.
We know that multiple US military participants have been injured or killed because the bases weren’t prepared for missile attacks, leaving many of them being described as “uninhabitable.”
And now the world knows not only where the Strait of Hormuz is but also that it isn’t hard for Iran to cripple the world’s economy by putting mines in the water and missiles on the coast.
What don’t we know? We don’t know when gas prices will fall. We don’t know what is going to happen to the enriched nuclear materials Iran owns. We don’t know what is going to happen in Lebanon, or if Israel is even going to stop their assaults there. We don’t know how many people have been killed or injured in Iran. We don’t even know how many US military participants have been injured, but the US admits to 381 as of early April.
Who won? As always, the biggest winners are the companies who make the weapons. At least $112 billion (as of 2 pm on June 15, but it is rising quickly) has been spent so far. The missiles will have to be replaced. The drones will be updated. The planes will be repaired. The damaged facilities will have to be rebuilt.
Who lost? Everyone who will spend the rest of their lives coping with the physical injuries sustained. Everyone who will spend the rest of their lives with trauma and moral injury. Everyone in Iran who will have to live with the environmental damage of the attacks. Everyone in the United States who will spend generations paying higher taxes.
What has been gained? The leadership of Iran is still made up of so-called religious fundamentalists who deprive their citizens of rights. The leadership of the United States is still made up of immoral and feckless zealots who seek to benefit their friends at the cost of all else. The price of oil is higher, so at least the macroeconomic argument for moving away from fossil fuels is stronger. But since the companies who are innovating in electric cars, solar power, and other alternatives are mostly based in east Asia, this doesn’t do the United States much good.
If the Iran War of 2026 is really over, then it has achieved nothing. Every government will claim victory and will tell their tale of brave deeds and noble sacrifices.
But like every war, it will signify nothing beyond idiocy and waste.