The indicators are there, though military action takes foresight, timing and precision because success must be the result—once the definition of success is made by governments and their armed forces.
As protests shake Iran, U.S. military assets move into place and media coverage intensifies, the absence of action may reflect preparation—not restraint.
Over the past weeks, a growing claim has taken hold that the United States missed its opportunity to strike Iran militarily. According to this line of thinking, the moment passed, the iron cooled, and Washington hesitated.
But that conclusion is premature. It rests on a familiar but flawed assumption: that geopolitical windows are brief, that decisive leaders must act immediately, and that if something does not happen in real time—on social-media timelines or cable-news panels—it will not happen at all. That framing misunderstands how American decision-making works, particularly when it comes to war.