Dear Editor,

A columnist, Thomas L Friedman, writing for the New York Times on 31 March 2026 under the heading “Trump has a way out of the war”, draws attention to a book written by former professor John Arquilla which contains carefully considered advice aimed at avoiding escalating into WWIII and instead ending the conflict between Iran and the USA/Israel alliance. The message in the advice given and its three-point plan are worth pondering:

“Trump should set aside his 15-point peace plan — which would be ridiculously complicated to implement — and reduce it to two points: Iran gives up its more than 950 pounds of nearly bomb-grade highly enriched uranium, and in return the United States gives up on regime change. Both sides would then agree to end all hostilities. That is, no more American and Israeli bombing, no more Iranian and Hezbollah rockets, no more Strait of Hormuz blockade and, for darn sure, no U.S. ground troops landing in Iran.

“We have to realize that what the Iranian regime wants most is to stay in power, and what the United States and Israel want most is for Iran not to have a bomb,” said John Arquilla, a former professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School and the author of the forthcoming book “The Troubled American Way of War.” Arquilla writes “Both sides can get what they want most if they are ready to give up what they want second most.”

One wonders whether both sides are big enough, and sufficiently wise, to embrace this suggested solution to the highly destructive and ever widening conflict. All countries willing to mediate in the conflict would do well to use the professor’s nifty solution as their goal.

Yours in accountability,

Paul Hoffman SC