By Greg Oxley – Published in Left Horizons 26/3/26.
Every passing day brings a new complicating twist to any attempt to appraise the US-Israeli war on Iran. Warfare by its very nature is chaotic and unpredictable. And the erratic, contradictory, and often nonsensical ramblings of Donald Trump do not help.
Nonetheless, we must try to see beyond the confusion of claims and counterclaims and try to assess the situation and its future implications for the peoples of the Middle East and indeed of the entire world.
Both the United States and Israel were preparing for this full-scale war against Iran for decades, and yet when they decided to launch it, they clearly underestimated their enemy. According to practically all historians and war specialists, this is one of the costliest and most dangerous mistakes that can possibly be made. So far, almost a month after the war began, it has not gone as Trump and his administration expected.
Militarily, the Iranian regime has proved to be no match for the destructive power of the United States and Israel, but neither did it expect anything different. No one can deny that Iranian military capabilities have been seriously depleted. Trump repeatedly shoots off his mouth about how many Iranian military bases, ships and aircraft have been destroyed by air strikes, but they have not, as Trump has repeatedly claimed, been completely obliterated.
The official justification for this war and the stated war aims change practically every day. Initially, the aim was “regime change”, suggesting that high intensive bombing would somehow “open the door” for the Iranian people to overthrow the government. Then Trump shifted his position, claiming that the “change” in question had been achieved by killing off dozens of leaders. But those leaders were simply replaced by others, and the regime is still in place. READ THE FULL ARTICLE.