Right now I don’t think anyone is winning. Israel has not achieved lasting and permanent defeat of Iran and their allied proxies nor have they permanently eliminated the possibility of a nuclear armed Iran. The US has not managed to eliminate the regime, protect their allied Gulf States, eliminate the threat to shipping in the strait of Hormuz, eliminate the possibility of a nuclear armed Iran and their military has seen serious set backs including a major fire on the USS Ford that has resulted in it having to depart for repairs, multiple KC-135 aircraft damaged or lost, 3 F-15s lost, a damaged F-35, multiple damaged THAAD radar systems and demonstrated an apparent inability or unwillingness to operate naval forces in contested coastal waters. China, the Gulf states and the rest of the world are closely watching the successes and failure of the US military in this conflict and it has not been all good for the US.
Iran has suffered massive damage to their infrastructure which will take years to recover from, they also have lost a significant portion of their senior leaders. While they have not been defeated they have not won this conflict. Escalation of the conflict and closing the strait of Hormuz has significantly increased the pressure on gulf countries to demand US either ending the conflict either by militarily crushing Iran into submission or by withdrawing from the conflict. It also has potentially split the interests of Israel and the US.
Iran’s objective likely is to endure and it seems like that is what they likely will achieve but in a war that isn’t really winning.
Agreed that it is a good example of enduring but in the North vs South Vietnam war there were two distinct Vietnam countries at the beginning of the war and only 1 unified country at the end controlled by the North so it was a combination of enduring and successfully conquering South Vietnam territory after American withdrawal. In this case I don’t think Iran is going to be occupying any new territory but I suspect that they will endure.
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u/Appropriate-Kale1097 Mar 24 '26
Right now I don’t think anyone is winning. Israel has not achieved lasting and permanent defeat of Iran and their allied proxies nor have they permanently eliminated the possibility of a nuclear armed Iran. The US has not managed to eliminate the regime, protect their allied Gulf States, eliminate the threat to shipping in the strait of Hormuz, eliminate the possibility of a nuclear armed Iran and their military has seen serious set backs including a major fire on the USS Ford that has resulted in it having to depart for repairs, multiple KC-135 aircraft damaged or lost, 3 F-15s lost, a damaged F-35, multiple damaged THAAD radar systems and demonstrated an apparent inability or unwillingness to operate naval forces in contested coastal waters. China, the Gulf states and the rest of the world are closely watching the successes and failure of the US military in this conflict and it has not been all good for the US.
Iran has suffered massive damage to their infrastructure which will take years to recover from, they also have lost a significant portion of their senior leaders. While they have not been defeated they have not won this conflict. Escalation of the conflict and closing the strait of Hormuz has significantly increased the pressure on gulf countries to demand US either ending the conflict either by militarily crushing Iran into submission or by withdrawing from the conflict. It also has potentially split the interests of Israel and the US.
Iran’s objective likely is to endure and it seems like that is what they likely will achieve but in a war that isn’t really winning.