Admiral Mark Montgomery, retired Navy flag officer and no dove, backed the original strike without hesitation: Iran had rehearsed launching sea mines from those rocket batteries, Trump had warned two months ago he'd strike anyone who tried, and he did.
Iran's answer, eight missiles at Jordan, all failed.
That, in his view, was the moment to stop:
"We had it exactly where we wanted"
The blockade is choking 95 to 99 percent of Iran's oil, the rial is sinking, and escorted ships running dark on the Omani side have restored 65 to 70 percent of pre-war flows by tracker estimates.
Every new strike lowers that number and shifts Iran's fire onto Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, which can't intercept what America can.
His deeper worry is the formal objections filed by commanders.
The Pacific faces 18 months without a carrier, the Navy's deployable destroyers are sliding from 40 percent toward 25, and the last time a Gulf buildup ran this long, January 2017 arrived with no carrier ready to sail for the first time in 70 years.
The president acknowledged the objections and moved on, as presidents do.
The bill lands in 2029, on whoever sits in the chair next.
@MarkCMontgomery @WeTheBrandon
