Who will win? |
WILL Iran win the war with the US and Israel? It depends on how one defines victory. By most counts, Iran is not likely to lose the war. Firstly, for Iran, this is an existential war, a war to survive. If the Iranian government is able to hold on long enough, it would have won despite the massive devastation caused by the relentless American and Israeli bombing of its cities.
Secondly, the people of Iran are too proud and nationalistic to surrender, and are likely to fight on. Shia Islam honours martyrdom in ways that can hardly be appreciated by the Western world. The killing of the rahbar Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has united the nation. Thirdly, the Iranian regime seems to possess enough missiles and drones to drag on the war. Reportedly, the Chinese and Russians are helping Iran covertly.
Will the US win this war? Given the military dominance that the US enjoys, it will not lose the war, but may not win it either. Firstly, the US has no clear objectives in this war. Is it to topple the present Iranian government, replace it with an acceptable one, decimate Iran’s nuclear programme, occupy Iran’s oil and gas fields as in Venezuela, fragment the country, or seek........