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IRANIAN PARKING LOT Cartoon published 09/07/2026 After I graduated from college in the summer of 1979, I got a full-time job at the local newspaper. A few months later, 66 Americans were taken hostage in Tehran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard—the same people who brought in Khomeini to replace the Shah. The managing editor assigned me to draw small cartoons that showed American determination in the face of Iran’s act of war. They would appear above the newspaper’s front page nameplate. I had no problem coming up with ideas. I thought the crisis would last only a few weeks at best, but no—under a weak Jimmy Carter it lasted an astounding 444 days. Eventually I drew them weekly and now I can’t remember much of what I drew, but eventually the newspaper did a story about me and the hostage cartoons. I still have the clipping somewhere. We knew the IRGC and the mullahs are a stubborn bunch who would fight to the death—surrender is out of the question for them. We believe America’s military can prevail without sending boots on the ground. All that said, I might find myself in a similar situation to my first foray into editorial cartooning. The war against Iran is nearly 50 years old—they never stopped fighting and shouting ‘Death to America!” even if Obama and Biden all but surrendered. And so here I am drawing cartoons featuring mullahs in funny hats once again—it completes a big cycle in my career. Cartoon bookends, so to speak. Everyone hopes Trump will finish the war quickly, and maybe the Persian citizens in Iran can finally have some freedom. I just hope Trump doesn’t have to turn Iran into a parking lot first. — Ben Garrison