US heading for ‘checkmate’ and ‘total defeat’ in Iran war, says neocon Robert Kagan

US heading for ‘checkmate’ and ‘total defeat’ in Iran war, says neocon Robert Kagan Submitted by Elis Gjevori on Tue, 05/12/2026 - 23:11 Influential US hawk warns Washington’s war risks a major shift in global power and a 'disastrous' for Israel A mural in Tehran of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. (Atta Kenare/AFP) Off Robert Kagan, one of the United States’ most prominent neoconservative voices and a long-time pro- Israel hawk, has warned that Washington is heading towards “total defeat” in its war on Iran - a setback he says “can neither be repaired nor ignored”. Writing in The Atlantic , Kagan said the damage inflicted by the conflict cannot be reversed.