Victor Davis Hanson: Preventive or Preemptive? The Pros and Cons of a Potential US Strike on Iran As President Trump positions “the largest naval and air forces” off Iran’s coast that the U.S. has “seen since the invasion of Iraq in 2003,” he has some pros and cons to weigh about striking the Middle Eastern country. The U.S. isn’t in a war with Iran right now, so Trump’s positioning of forces could be for “either a preventive war, long-term threat, or a preemptive war,” explains Victor Davis Han