To the editor: President Trump and Iran each have one end of a rope with a knot in it; both need the knot removed, but know only how to tighten their grip and pull harder (“News Analysis: Trump, long a critic of ‘forever wars,’ may be stumbling into one with Iran,” July 20). Both desperately need this war to end, but can’t win militarily and can’t negotiate concessions.

The only alternative is for the international community to take negotiation out of the parties’ hands. Trump can take an ego-sparing offramp by framing the U.S. as having won the battle, and it’s now time for others to step up and handle the diplomatic cleanup. A coalition of NATO and Middle Eastern states could devise an agreement among themselves.

Terms are foreseeable: Military action by one party against the other voids the agreement. The Strait of Hormuz is recognized permanently as international waters. Iran secures financial compensation on some basis other than tolls on shipping. Resolutions to nuclear and ballistic missile issues can be kicked down the road, since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth assured lawmakers that Iran’s military has been set back “not just years,” but likely “decades.” Israeli and Iranian regional proxies would be out of scope; the U.S. cannot commit to maintaining a war simply because those parties are dissatisfied.

The clear lesson of this war is that American aims in Iran can’t be achieved by war short of a full invasion and regime change, for which the people have no appetite based on the lessons of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. With the illusion of an easy war punctured, hopefully that creates a new respect for diplomacy going forward.

Michael Maniccia, Alhambra

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To the editor: The insightful article by Nabih Bulos does a good job of explaining why the war with Iran isn’t going the way Trump, his advisors and allies hoped and expected it would, and why prospects for an end appear unlikely. It deserves a better headline: “May be stumbling” should be replaced with the past tense “has stumbled,” because that is clearly the reality.

Richard Schmittdiel, Glendale

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To the editor: Two things stand out to me in Trump’s war with Iran: The American people still have no idea why this war was started in the first place, and a situation exists in the Strait of Hormuz that didn’t before he attacked. His so-called “deals” have not remedied the latter at all.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon faces a massive shortfall. A complete fiasco.

Robert Langelier, Hemet