Latest news with #axisofresistance
Washington Post
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Unilateral war won't build a safer world
The debate about the military effectiveness of the U.S. airstrikes against Iran misses a more profound point: Brilliant battlefield success by itself will not ensure a nuclear-free Iran. The U.S. attacks capped a year-plus Israeli campaign that utterly exposed Iran's 'axis of resistance' as a paper tiger. My own guess is that the strikes were highly effective. Uranium enrichment facilities rely on elaborate machinery, steady power supply and structurally sturdy environments. All that is likely to have been compromised by the 14 bunker-buster bombs that hit their targets with precision. But even assuming the damage was severe, most experts I have spoken to estimate that the strikes would have set back Iran's nuclear program by one to two years. By contrast, the Iran nuclear deal finalized in 2015 placed Iran's nuclear program in check for 10 to 15 years.
Telegraph
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Ayatollahs have squeezed Iran dry, but Israel has exposed their impotence
There is an unmistakable air of desperation about the warning issued by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Israel will receive 'severe punishment ' in retaliation for its devastating attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Ever since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, one of the Islamic Republic's principal objectives has been to turn itself into a regional military superpower, one capable of confronting and destroying its sworn enemy, Israel. To this end the ayatollahs have invested hundreds of billions of dollars developing a vast military arsenal while at the same establishing a network of Islamist terrorist organisations throughout the Middle East aimed at targeting Israel and its allies. As part of this campaign to establish regional hegemony, Iran has also invested heavily in developing its nuclear know-how. Although the regime has consistently denied it is working on developing nuclear weapons, there is a general acceptance within Western intelligence circles that much of the work Iran has undertaken in areas such as enriching uranium has only one purpose – building nuclear warheads. Yet, despite the vast amount of resources that have been committed to the ayatollahs' bid to acquire superpower status, nearly all the key pillars of their effort now lie in ruins. The terrorist network – known as the 'axis of resistance' by Tehran – has been emasculated in the wake of the October 7 attacks carried out by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists. Hamas itself has been decimated by Israel's overwhelming military response, while Hezbollah, its close ally in southern Lebanon, has suffered a similar fate. Other Iranian proxies, such as Yemen's Houthi rebels, have seen their terrorist operations seriously eroded following a devastating series of US air strikes, assisted by British warplanes. At the same time the inherent weakness of the Iranian military has been exposed following Israel's devastating assault last year, which succeeded in nullifying Iran's much-vaunted air defences. Iran's attempts to retaliate by launching its first direct military attack against Israel in April last year, firing a combination of 300 drones and ballistic missiles, proved to be an abject failure, with nearly all the projectiles being intercepted before reaching their targets. Israel's latest assault on Iran's nuclear infrastructure, in which it inflicted serious damage on key facilities while liquidating key figures in Iran's military and nuclear operations, is yet another humiliating blow for the ayatollahs, one that could ultimately spell the end for their despotic regime. The impotence of the Iranian military was yet again exposed by their latest response to Israeli aggression, when the hundred or so drones Tehran is reported to have fired at Israel failed to reach their target. While Supreme Leader Khamenei remains in denial regarding the catastrophe that is enveloping the Iranian regime, responding to the Israeli attacks in predictable fashion by vowing vengeance, the regime is fully aware that its very survival is at stake. It is not just the damage Tehran has suffered that suggests this is a regime on its knees. The vast sums invested in Iran's military and terrorist infrastructure have come at the expense of ordinary Iranians, many of whom are eking out a pitiful existence. Thanks to the regime's neglect of the country's domestic needs, inflation is currently running at nearly 40 per cent while government interest rates are at a punitive 24 per cent. As a result, youth unemployment stands at around 20 per cent. The Iranian people, who long ago tired of the country's dysfunctional Islamic leaders, would dearly love to see a change in regime, but their aspirations have been consistently crushed by the ayatollahs' vice-like hold on power. Only those candidates who have the Supreme Leader's personal approval are allowed to contest the country's rigged elections. And when, as is increasingly the case, discontent manifests itself with nationwide protests, regime loyalists brutally suppress their opponents. It is no coincidence that executions in Iran this year are running at an all time high, with the majority of victims convicted of trumped-up political charges. In such circumstances, there is a real possibility, therefore, that Israel's devastating assault on Iran's nuclear facilities – with Israeli officials insisting there will be more to come – could ultimately prove to be the final nail in the ayatollahs's coffin. We may soon witness the collapse of a regime that has come to be openly despised by the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people.
