The attack on Israel is an astonishing demonstration of Iranian bravado in this ‘fiasco’ of a war

June 8, 2026 — 10:52am

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London: By firing salvos of missiles at Israel, Iran’s leaders are rolling the dice on punitive retaliation and a return to all-out war. Their calculated decision to run that risk shows just how confident they feel.

It was not supposed to be this way. When America and Israel launched their offensive exactly 100 days ago, on February 28, they gambled on the swift collapse of Iran’s regime, triggered by the brutally efficient killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late supreme leader, and a small battalion of his ministers and commanders.

Even after the Islamic Republic had survived decapitation, replaced its slain figureheads and begun hitting back by closing the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump still assumed that thousands of around-the-clock air strikes would force his enemies to yield to........

© Brisbane Times