Twice last week, Iranian military vessels maneuvered dangerously close to American warships in international waters. The editors of the New York Post explain Tehran’s confidence that it won’t face anything worse than warning shots:

[A]s Iran well knows, the administration isn’t about to do anything that might endanger the nuclear deal and expose the futility of the president’s insistence that Iran will become “a member of the family of nations.”

And it’s not just Iran: in other corners of the world, Russian and Chinese jets this year have been buzzing U.S. ships in a clear-cut test of Washington’s resolve—a test this president is flunking. . . .

[Similarly], there have been no repercussions for Iran’s post-deal tests of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, in clear violation of UN sanctions. . . .

So the stakes will only keep rising. If Iran managed to snag $1.7 billion for five American captives, imagine how much the mullahs will demand when they take a billion-dollar battleship hostage.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.