[News] The real winners: The strategic fallout of the Israel-Iran War

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 The real winners: The strategic fallout of the Israel-Iran War
By Ramzy Baroud <https://english.palinfo.com/?p=250012>

Thursday 26-June-2025 -
https://english.palinfo.com/opinion_articles/the-real-winners-the-strategic-fallout-of-the-israel-iran-war/

On 24 June, US President Donald Trump announced a truce between Israel and
Iran following nearly two weeks of open warfare.

Israel began the war, launching a surprise offensive on 13 June, with
airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, missile installations, and
senior military and scientific personnel, in addition to numerous civilian
targets.

In response, Iran launched a wave of ballistic missiles and drones deep
into Israeli territory, triggering air raid sirens across Tel Aviv, Haifa,
and Beersheba and numerous other locations, causing unprecedented
destruction in the country.

What began as a bilateral escalation quickly spiraled into something far
more consequential: a direct confrontation between the United States and
Iran.

On 22 June, the United States Air Force and Navy carried out a full-scale
assault on three Iranian nuclear sites—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—in a
coordinated strike dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer. Seven B-2 bombers of
the 509th Bomb Wing allegedly flew nonstop from Whiteman Air Force Base in
Missouri to deliver the strikes.

The following day, Iran retaliated by bombing the Al-Udeid US military base
in Qatar and firing a new wave of missiles at Israeli targets.

This marked a turning point. For the first time, Iran and the United States
faced each other on the battlefield without intermediaries. And for the
first time in recent history, Israel’s long-standing campaign to provoke a
US-led war against Iran had succeeded.


*Strategic fallout*Following 12 days of war, Israel achieved two of its
goals. First, it pulled Washington directly into its conflict with Tehran,
setting a dangerous precedent for future US involvement in Israel’s
regional wars. Second, it generated immediate political capital at home and
abroad, portraying US military backing as a ‘victory’ for Israel.

However, beyond these short-term gains, the cracks in Israel’s strategy are
already showing.

Netanyahu did not achieve regime change in Tehran—the real objective of his
years-long campaign. Instead, he faced a resilient and unified Iran that
struck back with precision and discipline. Worse still, he may have
awakened something even more threatening to Israeli ambitions: a new
regional consciousness.

Iran, for its part, emerges from this confrontation significantly stronger.
Despite US and Israeli efforts to cripple its nuclear program, Iran has
demonstrated that its strategic capabilities remain intact and highly
functional.

Tehran established a powerful new deterrence equation—proving that it can
strike not only Israeli cities but US bases across the region.

Even more consequentially, Iran waged this fight independently, without
leaning on Hezbollah or Ansarallah, or even deploying Iraqi militias. This
independence surprised many observers and forced a recalibration of Iran’s
regional weight.


*Iranian unity*Perhaps the most significant development of all is one that
cannot be measured in missiles or casualties: the surge in national unity
within Iran and the widespread support it received across the Arab and
Muslim world.

For years, Israel and its allies have sought to isolate Iran, to present it
as a pariah even among Muslims. Yet in these past days, we have witnessed
the opposite.

>From Baghdad to Beirut, and even in politically cautious capitals like
Amman and Cairo, support for Iran surged. This unity alone may prove to be
Israel’s most formidable challenge yet.

Inside Iran, the war erased, at least for now, the deep divides between
reformists and conservatives. Faced with an existential threat, the Iranian
people coalesced, not around any one leader or party, but around the
defense of their homeland.

The descendants of one of the world’s oldest civilizations reacted with a
dignity and pride that no amount of foreign aggression could extinguish.


*The nuclear question*Despite the battlefield developments, the real
outcome of this war may depend on what Iran does next with its nuclear
program.

If Tehran decides to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT)—even temporarily—and signals that its program remains functional,
Israel’s so-called “achievements” will be rendered meaningless.

However, if Iran fails to follow this military confrontation with a bold
political repositioning, Netanyahu will be free to claim—falsely or
not—that he has succeeded in halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The stakes
are as high as they’ve ever been.


*A manufactured farce*Some media outlets are now praising Trump for
supposedly “ordering” Netanyahu to halt further strikes on Iran.

This narrative is as insulting as it is false. What we are witnessing is a
staged political performance—a carefully orchestrated spat between two
partners playing both sides of a dangerous game.

Trump’s Truth post, “Bring your pilots home,” was not a call for peace. It
was a calculated move to reclaim credibility after fully surrendering to
Netanyahu’s war. It allows Trump to pose as a moderate, distract from
Israel’s battlefield losses, and create the illusion of a US administration
reining in Israeli aggression.

In truth, this was always a joint US-Israeli war—one planned, executed, and
justified under the pretext of defending Western interests while laying the
groundwork for deeper intervention and potential invasion.


*Return of the people*Amid all the military calculations and geopolitical
theater, one truth stands out: the real winners are the Iranian people.

When it mattered most, they stood united. They understood that resisting
foreign aggression was more important than internal disputes. They reminded
the world—and themselves—that in moments of crisis, people are not
peripheral actors in history; they are its authors.

The message from Tehran is unmistakable: We are here. We are proud. And we
will not be broken.

That is the message Israel, and perhaps even Washington, did not
anticipate. And it is the one that could reshape the region for years to
come.

*-Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of the Palestine Chronicle.
He is the author of five books. His latest is ‘These Chains Will Be Broken:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons’. Baroud is
a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global
Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC).*
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