Was this outcome anticipated? If it wasn't, why not?

[candycorn]

OK admiral iceberg. Lets see how it actually plays out.

If we’re still conducting operations in the Summer (today is the first day of Spring), would it fair to call this excursion/strike/campaign/war/act of war/expedition a failure?

 

[kyzr]

If we’re still conducting operations in the Summer (today is the first day of Spring), would it fair to call this excursion/strike/campaign/war/act of war/expedition a failure?

Define failure. Failure is not necessarily a failure to achieve all objectives.
Keeping Iran from promoting terrorism thru Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Houthis, is a good thing.
But to your point about prolonged military action, if the US hasn't achieved regime change by the summer, its not a win but its not a loss. I expect to take Kharg island and control Iran's finances by the summer. What I don't know is if we can get the Jihadis and IRGC out of power by then. Victory can be defined many ways, regime change isn't one of them.
Trump's 4 objectives are:

https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/trumps-4-objectives-in-iran-explained-1.500461406

Destroy Iran's missiles (in-progress)
Sink Iran's Navy (achieved)
Prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons (finding 440 kg of uranium won't be easy)
Prevent Iran from funding terrorists (taking Kharg island and controlling Iran's finances would accomplish this)

A complete victory would be regime change without US boots on the ground hunting down the IRGC like we hunted down Saddam's criminal crew using a deck of cards.

 

[candycorn]

Define failure. Failure is not necessarily a failure to achieve all objectives.
Keeping Iran from promoting terrorism thru Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Houthis, is a good thing.
But to your point about prolonged military action, if the US hasn't achieved regime change by the summer, its not a win but its not a loss. I expect to take Kharg island and control Iran's finances by the summer. What I don't know is if we can get the Jihadis and IRGC out of power by then. Victory can be defined many ways, regime change isn't one of them.
Trump's 4 objectives are:

https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/trumps-4-objectives-in-iran-explained-1.500461406

Destroy Iran's missiles (in-progress)
Sink Iran's Navy (achieved)
Prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons (finding 440 kg of uranium won't be easy)
Prevent Iran from funding terrorists (taking Kharg island and controlling Iran's finances would accomplish this)

A complete victory would be regime change without US boots on the ground hunting down the IRGC like we hunted down Saddam's criminal crew using a deck of cards.

Great...lets look at your list.

If we haven’t done all of that in 90 days, will you call it a failure?

 

[kyzr]

Great...lets look at your list.
If we haven’t done all of that in 90 days, will you call it a failure?

I'd call it a "partial success" if all 4 objectives are not accomplished.
Why are you so negative on "de-fanging" Iran"?
Their crazy mullahs are very destabilizing in the region.

One strategy to avoid "boots on the ground" is to not achieve regime change, but to "mow the grass" whenever Iran starts developing offensive missiles or nuclear weapons like we're doing now.
Is that a "failure"? No. Its just not achieving regime change.
If we can take Kharg island and control their finances, that would put a lot of pressure on them, we'll see how that plays out.