- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44511303
Leaving the regime undefeated could motivate Tehran to develop nuclear weapons and leave it in control of much of the world’s energy flows March 11, 2026
Yet 12 days into the war, Iran keeps firing missiles and drones across the Middle East, albeit at a slower rate. Iran’s ability to destroy with precision strikes some of the most sensitive and scarce U.S. military targets in the Middle East, such as radars for air-defense installations, didn’t go unnoticed. Should America abandon its Gulf partners after exposing them to existential danger, there will be inevitable repercussions in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
“This war hugely damages U.S. standing in the world, which means that China has much more scope to establish its own standing in the Middle East and the Global South generally,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London.
“Meanwhile, everyone is observing that Iran has, at best, a middling military capability—and the Americans can’t take them out,” he said.
It’s not that they can’t, they just need boots on the ground to do it and they don’t want to do that right now. History has shown time and time again that you can’t just bomb every country into submission, no matter how much air superiority you have. This is obvious for conventional weapons, but imperial Japan almost didn’t surrender even after 2 nuclear bombs.
I think American bombing was a significant factor in Japan’s surrender, both conventional and nuclear; and allies destroying its navy and air force (or much of them);
but it was quite a cost to the US in terms of people and money.
Iran didn’t attack the US, much less a Pearl Harbor attack. Iran has partners, it borders countries that aren’t big fans of the US, and is over 4x the size of Japan.
I agree with your main point that taking Iran and occupying it wouldn’t be easy.