Any new Iran deal should be judged by results, not victory-lap rhetoric

President Trump will present the emerging Iran agreement as vindication of peace through strength. He will argue that American military power forced Tehran to the negotiating table, blocked a nuclear Iran and ended months of choking instability in the Strait of Hormuz.

He is not wrong about the military record. But wars are not judged by the speeches that launch them. They are judged by the conditions they leave behind. That is the standard Carl von Clausewitz set — and it is the standard...