US heading for ‘checkmate’ and ‘total defeat’ in Iran war, says neocon Robert Kagan

US heading for ‘checkmate’ and ‘total defeat’ in Iran war, says neocon Robert Kagan Submitted by Elis Gjevori on Tue, 05/12/2026 - 23:11 Influential US hawk warns Washington’s war risks a major shift in global power and a 'disastrous' for Israel A mural in Tehran of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. (Atta Kenare/AFP) Off Robert Kagan, one of the United States’ most prominent neoconservative voices and a long-time pro- Israel hawk, has warned that Washington is heading towards “total defeat” in its war on Iran - a setback he says “can neither be repaired nor ignored”. Writing in The Atlantic , Kagan said the damage inflicted by the conflict cannot be reversed. “There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done,” he concluded bleakly. Kagan, who co-founded the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century in 1997, helped shape a political current that pushed the US to project military power globally. That doctrine culminated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and deeply influenced the George W. Bush administration. He remained closely tied to that policy ecosystem, including through his wife, Victoria Nuland, who served as an advisor to the arch neoconservative Vice President Dick Cheney. For years, Kagan championed US interventionism - making his stark warning about the current war all the more striking. In his analysis, Kagan argued that control over the Strait of Hormuz has fundamentally shifted the balance of power. 'Defeat for the United States, therefore, is not only possible but likely' - Robert Kagan “With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in ...

Original source: Middle East Eye