We may be witnessing the greatest American humiliation of my adult lifetime, and the most significant challenge yet to Israel's dominance in the Middle East. In the end, hubris appears to have caught up with Netanyahu. Iran's resilience in the face of overwhelming and, in its view, unprovoked military force from both countries has signalled to much of the world that the era of unquestioned Western power is drawing to a close. China and Russia will likely help Iran rebuild, and sooner or later Tehran may succeed in acquiring a nuclear deterrent. If that happens, Israel will have to adapt to a new regional reality and learn that there are limits to how far it can project its power without consequences. Like the Vietcong before them they showed the world for all their showy wealth the US can be beaten and most certainly has. May the girls massacre not be in vain. God is great ! https://spectator.com/article/thanks-to-trump-tehran-is-winning/?homepage-tracking=magazine_minor-featured-1 ‘The distinction between the IRGC and the state has become increasingly blurred,’ says Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute. ‘The Guards are no longer merely an institution benefiting from the state; in many respects, they have become an integral part of it.’ Ray Takeyh, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, considers the Guards ‘a state unto themselves’. While they still require some clerical cover and sanction for their brutality, the power balance has tilted in their favour. It has a mafia-like control over the economy and increasingly determines parameters for US negotiations If one institution in Iran has profited from the wars of 2025 and today, it is the IRGC. After two decades of taking control of Iran’s overstaffed, mismanaged and corrupt state-owned enterprises, it now has a mafia-like control over the economy, as well as being primus inter pares on security and, increasingly, determining the parameters for US negotiations. The assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in February has only strengthened the Guards’ vice-like grip.
