AP Photo

Political realities facing the leaders of the United States and Iran mean that military confrontation between the two states is a distinct possibility. In late December, the Iranian armed forces conducted a number of war games - which included the live firing of missiles - in the Straits of Hormuz and adjacent waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. When the aircraft carrier USS John Stennis sailed for a routine repositioning from the Gulf to the North Arabian Sea, Iran told the United States not to return it to the Gulf region. The commander of Iran's army, General Ataollah Salehi, later reiterated that "The Islamic Republic will not repeat its warning."

On January 6, three armed patrol boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps came within several hundred yards of...