How Iran’s War of Attrition Exposed the Limits of US-Israeli Power

By Elijah J. Magnier –

Iran has crossed a historic threshold. For more than four decades, the possibility of direct war with the United States and Israel hovered over Tehran as a strategic constraint. That barrier has now been broken. Iran did not hesitate to challenge the strongest army in the world and the most powerful regional military in the Middle East, absorbing the risk of confrontation with both and demonstrating that it is no longer deterred by the fear of escalation. Iran has, therefore, run a competent attrition campaign that exposed real Western vulnerabilities and raised the price of confrontation. As negotiations continue, Tehran is signalling that it is prepared for another round of violence. By rejecting US terms, it is also making clear that pressure alone will not force surrender, and that what Washington failed to achieve militarily will not be handed to it at the negotiating table.

Iranian strikes against U.S. military infrastructure across the Middle East appear to have caused far greater damage than initially acknowledged publicly, raising serious questions about the vulnerability of America’s regional military architecture and the future balance of deterrence in the Gulf.