If someone more stable than Donald Trump were president, that president would be able to make a strong case for a surgical, limited, but devastating air strike against Iran.

Even Trump should consider such a strike, if he is willing to follow certain protocols. Iran’s Sept. 14 drone attack against oil facilities in Saudi Arabia was not a mere nation-against-nation dust-up, but an assault against the global economy. As the nation with the greatest wherewithal to retaliate without escalating the retaliation into a full-scale regional war, the United States is well positioned to teach Iran a lesson it won’t soon forget.