The Iran War May Become a ‘Phoney Sitzkrieg’

The war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran, and by extension Lebanon, seems to have entered a new phase, which might be called a Sitzkrieg, a “Bore War,” drole de guerre or a “phoney” (sic) war.

Those terms come from one of the strange early phases of World War II. After the Nazis invaded Poland, Britain and France declared war on the Third Reich. For eight months, however, nothing much happened. The Allies blockaded Germany, a bit as the US and Iran now maintain dueling blockades of the Strait of Hormuz. But a few other skirmishes aside, the belligerents conserved their resources. The real carnage commenced only in early 1940.