With the possible exception of World War Two in Europe, when the Allied powers could pat themselves on the back for fighting a Nazi regime of unparalleled monstrosity, every war in recorded history has ended on a decidedly sour note.

Even in the case of World War Two, Great Britain was reduced by the depredations of battle to penury and a future as a second-rate power, and we had almost fifty years of frightening nuclear brinkmanship with our former Russian allies to look forward to. Meanwhile, the psychological and physical wounds of that war afflicted a generation of young men and drove a strange combination of paranoia and hubris in our foreign policy that eventually drew us into the morass of Vietnam.

Worse still, the losers tend to be disinclined to acknowledge their losses, and the humiliation of defeat today can easily turn into the extremism of tomorrow. Ask yourself just how many sane and sober Germans raced heedlessly to the banner of Adolf Hitler—and eighty million dead only a decade or so later—because he gave them back the national pride that had been lost due to the vindictive idiocy of the victorious allies at the negotiating tables of Versailles. History has a sick sense of irony, and the victors can inevitably expect a swift kick in the pants from cackling karma years—or even decades—later.

Our conflict with Iran is likely to be little different.

The Iranians of today, who see themselves as the inheritors of a Persian empire that dates back to over 500 years before the birth of Christ, are, no matter how they feel about their theocratic leaders, never going to appreciate that we are pummeling them economically and militarily. Knowing that the modern industrial world hungers for the light, sweet crude oil beneath their sands—and the threat of just one comparatively cheap drone can frighten any supertanker owner and their insurance company into turning tail and running—Iran’s leaders are happy to play the long game by spreading oil price misery around the globe and waiting for the panicky leaders of the West to beg for peace on any terms. The escalating prices of desperately needed gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil, and jet fuel are already causing economic palpitations that are eroding support for U.S. military action both home and abroad; remember the singular advantage that tyrannies have over democracies is that there are no pesky voters or opposition journalists to push back on their crazed policies.

The honest truth is the benefits of bombing Iran are already diminishing because their nuclear ambitions are in ruins and continued military action will likely only empower the fanatics of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who will use the natural patriotism of a nation under siege to tighten their grip on a weary people whom they have already spent close to half a century brutalizing into sad submission. Moreover, adopting the ancient political maxim that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” to further their own foreign policy goals, we can be certain that both China and Russia—and perhaps even a few of our spineless European “allies” as well—will extend covert aid to Iran in exchange for both hard cash today and oil deliveries tomorrow. Unfortunately diplomacy and treachery are natural companions, so we can count on both our friends and foes pursuing their own best interests at our expense.

So how can we “win” this roundabout quasi-war in a way that leaves the least bad taste in our mouths and provides the greatest benefit to our nation?

First and foremost, we must recognize this conflict will not end when the shooting stops. Iran has been in a declared war against America since 1979—one that every President before Donald Trump preferred to pointedly ignore—and the current regime will be in a vengeful mood after having their shameful weakness exposed by our military forces. We will need to continue to exert economic and political pressure at every opportunity, and our open and covert actions must be directed toward weakening the power of the mullahs and undermining their legitimacy both home and abroad. We must also make plain that we will still pursue strategic military strikes when we deem it necessary, which will be a difficult sell if Democrats continue to extend aid and comfort to the enemies of our nation because non-stop Trump Derangement Syndrome and the rejection of an America First foreign policy are the explicit goals of the ascendant Socialists within their Party.

In addition, we must prioritize opening the oil spigots in Venezuela so we can use that supply to stabilize oil prices worldwide. Now that American oil companies are returning with their expertise and investment to rebuild the drilling and refining infrastructure that deteriorated during the harsh decades of Socialist rule that impoverished Venezuela, that nation’s oil reserves, which are the largest in the world, can bring new supply to the global marketplace and reduce the efficacy of petroleum blackmail, which is the only significant weapon Iran still has at its disposal at this point.

Given that America is the second-largest oil-exporting nation in the world, our own abundant domestic resources can continue to be used to stabilize the oil market, although we need to rebuild our domestic refining capacity to ensure that our own citizens and businesses need not suffer from unnecessary disruptions and price increases for petroleum by-products. Unfortunately, one of the core principles of Democrats throughout our nation is an unrelenting war against the production and use of fossil fuels to increase the wealth of our nation and the comfort of our people, so necessary upgrades to our domestic oil infrastructure have lagged for decades—but sanity on this front might be returning.

Winning in Iran might not be as satisfying or neat as we might hope. It is, however, possible—and within our grasp—if we muster the political will to stay the course