Negotiating with Iran is a fool’s errand. The malignant regime never keeps inconvenient promises. President Trump should cease trying to strike a deal; it weakens U.S. credibility. More critically, it’s leading to a major U.S. strategic defeat. The evil regime has survived significant attacks from the U.S. and Israel, giving it a perverse prestige and allowing it to continue its malign agenda in the Mideast and elsewhere. Moreover, it has won a significant prize: de facto control of the Strait of Hormuz.

If there had been no ceasefire, the war would have been over by now. The Iranian threats to hit critical water desalination plants in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere would have been neutralized. Now Iran has more missiles and drones with which to attack its neighbors.

Will U.S. behavior in this war give Xi Jinping second thoughts about pursuing his goal to be the world’s dominant power—not to mention making moves to undermine or even attack Taiwan? No. Will South Korea, Japan and Europe feel reassured that the U.S. still has the steadfastness of purpose we exhibited during the Cold War? No.

The U.S. and Israel should immediately resume the military operations that were prematurely interrupted by the ceasefire. In addition to hitting the targets that remain on the original list, we should take out the oil facilities on Kharg Island. That would shut off Iran’s biggest source of revenue. Also destroying the overland routes that Tehran has been utilizing to get supplies and ship oil would choke off the regime’s ability to sustain itself.

The reason anti-regime elements in the Iranian military, not to to mention a citizenry that overwhelmingly despises its tyrants, don’t take direct action is they fear the U.S. will once again pull the rug out from under them and cut a deal that allows the government to stay in power and rebuild itself. This would mean more massive massacres and arrests. But relentlessly hitting Iran—including the personnel and assets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, which keeps the regime in power—will enable opponents to overthrow the regime.

But the thugs running Iran think they have the U.S. on the run. Right now, we’re not even discussing the permanent dismantling of Iran’s missile and drone manufacturing capabilities or ceasing Iran’s support for its proxies, mainly Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and scores of terrorists cells and local militias. The mullahs feel that any enforcement procedures on enriched uranium, not to mention other malignant activities, can eventually be circumvented.

History is on their side: The victors of World War I thought that the provisions in the Treaty of Versailles would make Germany permanently weak. A little more than a generation later, Germany came close to destroying Western civilization. With oil revenue and assistance from China and other deal-seeking governments and businesses, Iran’s recovery will be far swifter.

Having virtual control of the Strait of Hormuz, getting gradual access to frozen funds and escaping any immediate agreement on missiles and proxies, give the criminals running Iran the feeling they’re emerging stronger strategically.

Any deal with a government that never adheres to inconvenient agreements won’t be worth the paper it’s written on.