Subject: Re: The strategy,...is working
But if that's not the strategy, then how does anything we're doing eliminate the threat of, say, drones from Iran going forward?

Besides destroying all the launchers, the drone stockpiles and the factories that make them? There are 2 scenarios at play here:

1. The Iranian people rise up and throw out the mullahs
2. The regime survives somehow

If 1, then your question is answered
If 2, then at some point victory will be declared and a new status quo will emerge. Right now that status quo has armed Kurds running around someplace doing whatever they want.

Much worse than this in the Middle East. You were suggesting that China is doing things with Iran in order to cause us headaches or a resource drain. None of China's contributions to Iran, though, did or could have caused anything like what we're undergoing right now.

Because...they are. Are you under the impression that China isn't a global threat of ours, doesn't work against our interests and never conspires with our enemies to cause trouble?

This statement is hilarious. I will never get the left wing refusal to see the planet for what it really is:

https://nationalinterest.org/f...
Chinese firms, especially Wanda Holdings, are helping Iran bypass sanctions, funding Tehran’s military through illicit oil trade. Targeting China’s economic links is key to stopping Iran’s rearmament and future threats.

https://www.uscc.gov/research/...
China’s relationship with Iran has evolved over decades from limited cooperation to a broad strategic partnership encompassing economic, diplomatic, and security dimensions, much of which runs directly counter to U.S. foreign policy and national security interests. China views Iran as a partner in balancing U.S. influence in the Middle East and seeking to erode the U.S.-led global order, and as a key supplier of discounted energy resources.
China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea are increasingly resembling an informal Axis of Autocracy. Brought together by a shared desire to challenge U.S. global leadership and reshape elements of the international system to be more conducive to authoritarian forms of government, this partnership emboldens each actor to take more provocative actions, believing that mutual support will help them withstand the consequences. (For more, seeU.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, “Axis of Autocracy: China’s Revisionist Ambitions with Russia, Iran, and North Korea,” in 2025 Annual Report to Congress, November 2025.)
Beijing has expressed opposition to Iran developing nuclear weapons and has supported diplomatic frameworks such as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). China has supported Iran’s right to a civilian nuclear energy program.[1] Over the past two decades, open-source reporting does not indicate that China has directly helped Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Rather, most allegations against China have focused on dual-use technology transfers, missile-related materials, or sanctions evasion rather than direct nuclear weapons assistance.[2]
China has helped ease Iran’s international isolation by facilitating its entrance into alternative multilateral institutions including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2023 and BRICS in 2024.[3] Membership in these organizations brings Iran into closer alignment with China and Russia and helps China’s goal of using them to promote illiberal norms, help mitigate the impact of sanctions tools, and coordinate on security issues. Following the United States and Israel’s bombings of Iran in 2025, BRICS issued a statement expressing “grave concern” but has not taken a stance on the recent strikes, reflecting limitations to the group’s cohesion.[4]

The Chinese are as bad actor as bad actors get.

We're depleting tens of billions of dollars in military resources, including some of the most critical equipment in our THAAD and anti-missile equipment. To the point where we're possibly relocating it from other theaters - including Asia. All the while enduring an energy crisis and further straining our relationships with our allies. All for a war that we chose to fight, in pursuit of strategic objectives which are a mix of either unattainable (eliminating Iran's drone or ballistic missile threat), unlikely to be obtained (eliminating their nuclear threat), or trivial (eliminating their navy). Exactly the sort of headaches, distractions, and resource drains that you were describing.

Seems like we're doing a lot to ourselves that we didn't need to do.

The strategic calculus is this:
-Take care of Iran, Venezuela and Cuba now

vs.

-Deal with China + all those entities and Russia all at once.

This isn't 1941 and the US isn't able to multitask like it used to be able to.