by Jacob G. Hornberger

March 20, 2026

There is a surefire way to induce Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. Here it is.

President Trump publicly makes the following announcement:

1. Today I am ordering the withdrawal of all U.S. troops, ships, planes, and weaponry from the Middle East and their return to the United States. I’m also ordering the Pentagon to discharge these troops into the private sector, as they will no longer be needed. This order will be immediately followed by an order of withdrawal of U.S. troops in all other parts of the world and their discharge into the private sector.

2. I hereby declare that as long as I am president, there will no longer be any more U.S. military attacks or wars of aggression on Iran or any other nation.

3. I hereby order the lifting of all economic sanctions, embargoes, and blockades against Iran and every other nation around the world.

4. I hereby declare an end to all U.S. state-sponsored assassinations.

5. I hereby declare an end to U.S. governmental interference in the affairs of other nations, including coups, alliances with dictatorial regimes, bribery of foreign regimes, and partisan electoral activities in other nations.

6. I ask Congress to enact legislation to end all foreign aid to the Israeli government and all other foreign governments.

7. I hereby declare an end to the longtime subserviency of the U.S. government to the government of Israel.

8. I ask Congress to enact necessary legislation for the dismantling of America’s Cold-War era national-security state governmental structure, including the Pentagon, the vast military-industrial complex, the CIA, and the NSA, and for the restoration of America’s founding governmental system of a limited-government republic and a relatively small military force.

9. Martin Luther King described the U.S. government as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. He was, of course, right. It is time to bring an end to that sordid “achievement.”

10. More than 50 years ago, President Kennedy attempted to move America in a different direction from that desired by the U.S. national-security establishment. He failed in that endeavor and paid for it with his life. It is now necessary that JFK’s act of courage be repeated, and I, Donald Trump, who have long vowed to “drain the swamp” and terminate the “deep state,” am the president to do it, no matter how dangerous this might be to me. The time has come to put the United States back on the road toward liberty, peace, prosperity, and harmony with the people of the world. Dismantling the U.S. national-security state and ending its policy of foreign interventionism is a necessary step in that direction.

It goes without saying that Iran might not believe Trump’s announcement, given the long history of lies emanating from the U.S. government. But once Trump takes active steps in this different direction, Iranian officials will soon come to the realization that he means business. Once Iranian officials see that the U.S. government is finally — finally! — going to leave Iran alone, it is a virtual certainty that they will immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz.