The U.S.-Iran war cannot go on much longer

Aug 10, 2026 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News’ Saturday, August 8, Al Jazeera-sourced news article, “Trump says war ‘can’t go much longer’,” does not really comport with the article’s subheading, ‘What did Trump say on Thursday night?’, with his answer to the ask being: “I think it’s going to end pretty soon. I don’t think they can go much longer.” The ‘IT’ Trump referred to, as he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office, was the war with Iran.

It is important for me to start off on this idiomatic ‘come-to-Jesus’ moment for Trump who has mastered the ‘art of projecting’, which usually refers to a psychological projection or a defense mechanism where a person shifts their own unacceptable feelings or traits onto someone else. So, when Trump said, “I don’t think THEY can take it much longer,” he actually meant HE (not Iran) can’t continue carrying the psychological, emotional, political and financial burden for the Iran war.

This current U.S-Iran war actually is phase 2, which started 28th February, 2026, because phase one was executed June, 2025, with Israel initiating attacks on June 13 and America joining later. On 21st June, Trump addressed Americans and the world in a prime time speech from the White House: “A short time ago, the U.S military carried out massive precision strikes on three key nuclear facilities in Iran: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan…Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular success. IRAN’S KEY NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT FACILITIES HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY OBLITERATED.”

It was against that background of Iran’s nuclear capacity being completely and totally obliterated that the world started questioning why America was once again attacking Iran on 28th February, 2026. In a letter to Kaieteur News,6th April, 2026, “The road to war is always paved with good intentions, but truth is always the first casualty,” I referenced Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s attempt on 2nd March to clear the air on the rationale behind the 28th February, attack by saying the U.S launched preemptive strikes because it knew Israel was planning an imminent attack, which, in turn, could prompt Iran to retaliate against U.S interests, leading to higher U.S casualties.

So, having gone from completely and totally obliterating Iran’s nukes in June 2025, to preempting an Israeli attack in February 2026, America has now found itself in a six-month war that most Americans, via most polls, disagree with. Even Trump is finally realising this war cannot go on anymore after trying without success to get NATO allies involved as he kept looking for an off-ramp or exit strategy. But two things that have to be weighing heavily on his mind for a quick exit strategy: the total costs of the war (financial, logistical and human) and its concomitant economic impact on Americans.

The widely reported economic impact does not need my analysis to underscore the point, but it is the financial and logistical costs of the war that could determine America’s standing in the world as a military superpower. This past week, Trump reportedly reacted angrily to U.S. media reports that the U.S. may, in fact, be running low on weapons, but especially Interceptors.

According to CBS News and other news outlets, before the 28th February attack, America had around 452 THAAD Interceptors, but now has around 278. It started with around 2,300 Patriot Interceptors, but now has around 827, and has burned through nearly half of its global Tomahawk cruise missiles and almost all of its Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM).

When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went to the U.S. Congress, 21st July, 2026, seeking US$67B to replenish expended military stocks and he revealed the Iran war cost was about US$37.5B, some analysts/experts contended the figures may not have given a true picture. But for cost context, one Tomahawk can range from US$1.4m to US$3.6m, one Patriot: US$3.8m, and one THAAD: US$12.7m.

Reality Tea online news outlet reported 6th August, 2026, that “The U.S fired over 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,000 Patriot and THAAD interceptors, during the first month of fighting, and more than 1300 Army tactical ballistic missiles in the initial weeks of the now 6-month-old war.”

When we multiply the missile unit costs by the numbers reportedly fired, we have to ask ourselves if Iran was really worth such a massive expenditure and yet it remains standing as a negotiator? Americans can only hope the munitions depletion report is fake news. Still, given that most have concluded it was a war of choice and not necessity – after all nukes were completely and totally obliterated in June 2025 – this Iran war has been costly on multiple fronts. In fact, for the sake of Americans, Iranians, and other Gulf States, the U.S-Iran war can’t go on much longer.

Trump desperately needs an off-ramp, but he has to be extremely careful America’s exit does not become its ‘Afghanistan Aftermath’, which saw the Soviet Union collapsed two years after withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1989 following a grueling 10-year war. Trump has to hope that he is not leaving Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz because that could become America’s Achilles heel.

Sincerely,
Emile Mervin

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• Al Jazeera, Gulf states, Iran war, Marco Rubio, U.S

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