They were considered brilliant strategists, but now they've lost almost everything:

The mullahs are faced with the ruins of their strategy.

The nuclear program has been largely destroyed. The ballistic missiles are almost exhausted. And the regime's crown jewel, the powerful proxy armies, have done nothing to protect the mullahs from Israel and the US.

How could the Iranian rulers have miscalculated so much?

"I have built six armies for you..."

Just a few years ago, the mullahs seemed unstoppable, feeling stronger than ever.
The best evidence: A reported quote from Iran's most important general, Qassem Soleimani. He coordinated the terrorist organizations in the Middle East and told his men in 2019:
"I have built six armies for you outside Iran and created a corridor 1,500 kilometers long and 1,000 kilometers wide - all the way to the shores of the Mediterranean."No enemy could get past these six armies.

"Iran had surrounded Israel with a 'ring of fire'"

"Iran has built a strategic network in the Middle East to surround Israel with a 'ring of fire,'" Israeli Iran expert and former military intelligence officer Or Yissachar told BILD. Soleimani's unit had proxies everywhere: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and even the Palestinian West Bank.
Soleimani was eliminated by the US in 2020, but his successors continued his work. With terrifying success and without resistance from the international community.

On October 7, everything changed.

Then came October 7, 2023 - and changed everything. With Iranian support, the Palestinian Hamas carried out the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust (1,200 dead, 250 hostages). A day later, the Iranian-controlled Hezbollah opened fire from Lebanon.
What frightened Israel even more was the thought of what could have happened on that October 7th. What if the heavily armed Hezbollah had also sent thousands of its Iranian-trained fighters across the border to kill and kidnap Israeli citizens en masse? What if militias from Syria, the Yemeni Houthis, and other Iranian proxies had attacked at the same?

This worst-case scenario was horrifying. But so was the reality. Northern Israel had been rendered uninhabitable by rocket fire. Hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah rockets were aimed at targets across the country. The nuclear threat from Iran grew unchecked on the horizon.

Israel understood: It had to act!

In Jerusalem, they understood: Israel's enemies didn't have to destroy it. Making life unbearable for Israelis was enough to wipe them off the map, step by step.
In Tehran, they didn't understand the effect this realization had on Israel. "The Iranians misjudged the Israeli mentality," says expert Yissachar. Above all, "the will to strike back and eliminate threats-especially after October 7."
The army and Mossad targeted the Islamists one by one. "Israel succeeded in inflicting severe damage on each of these groups in succession-like toppling dominoes," says Yissachar.

First Hezbollah, then the mullahs

In September 2024, Israel defeated Iran's most important proxy army, the Lebanese Hezbollah, which was considered invincible. In an unprecedented wave of airstrikes and intelligence operations, thousands of Hezbollah Islamists were disabled, the entire leadership eliminated, and the missile arsenal decimated. Shortly thereafter, the Iranian-backed Syrian regime, whose bodyguard Hezbollah had served, collapsed.

The mullahs misread the signals. In October 2024, they attacked Israel with 200 ballistic missiles. The goal was to deter the Jewish state. The effect was the opposite: The mullahs only made it clearer to Jerusalem that they were a threat that had to be eliminated at all costs.

"Iran considered its proxies loyal fighters"

On June 13, 2025, it became apparent that Iran had underestimated Israel's military power, intelligence preparation, and risk-taking: In a brutal strike, Israel eliminated Iran's most important generals and attacked its missile arsenal and nuclear facilities. This also enabled the American attack on its nuclear program.

And the mullah regime, which just a few years ago boasted of its six armies, is not only militarily defeated, but completely alone.

"Iran considered its proxies unconditionally loyal fighters, but in fact they were mercenaries," says former intelligence officer Yissachar. "At the crucial moment, the protégés betrayed their mentor and relied on national self-interest to avoid further damage."

The weakened Hezbollah rejected a request for assistance from Tehran. The Houthis, perhaps frightened by Israel's military capabilities, remain largely silent. Hamas in Gaza, a shadow of its former self, is no longer capable of escalation.

Iran's ring of fire around Israel has been broken.

Trump trying to stop the war by offering russia better trade deals was just deeply embarrassing and stupid

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-21_Raider

"it's music to my ears". :)

Besides, our politicians think that if we are armed to our teeth with American weapons,

Aaaah, you are pouring honey on my ears, BB.

... and it is rather leftist-leaning too.

to stay longer than expected.

You continually disprove that a Prussian heart is dark, rigid, and militant.

Although not perfect, the dome has performed well from what I can tell.

but Medvedev came crawling out of his den yesterday with what amounted to a public apology.

it was Putin that told him to shut his trap

The Times this morning said that Khameini is hidden and uncontactable.

however they are unpredictable enough to try it and could bring a bomb into any country they have an embassy

nothing whatsoever to stop them.

The U.S. Embassy in Qatar has instructed all Americans in the country to shelter-in-place until further notice, "out of an abundance of caution" with no further details so far from the State Department.

Iran are wrong to police clothing,

The Middle East is not a 'one size fits all' place.

when you're all listening to farmer pop music with accordions in it.

It's generally self enforced among women.

Iranian woman dies 'after being beaten by morality police' over hijab law
This article is more than 2 years old

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurd, dies after 'violent arrest' for infringing hijab rules amid Iranian crackdown on women's dress

Independent UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said in a statement that it represents a fundamental attack on women's rights.

The legislation, which applies to children as young as 12, combines severe criminal penalties with mandatory citizen surveillance and systematic enforcement across all sectors of society, the experts added.

The Law on Protecting the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chasity and Hijab, represents what experts describe as "an intensification of State control over women's bodies in Iran and a further assault on women's rights and freedoms".

The new legislation expands existing restrictions, targeting women and girls who fail to wear a hijab in both physical and online spaces. While the hijab requirements were already mandatory under Iran's Islamic Penal Code, this new law introduces dramatically harsher consequences.

....

"The law constitutes clear violation of fundamental human rights, legal norms and principles, including women's rights to equality, freedom of expression, religion and belief, bodily autonomy, liberty, security and privacy, "the experts emphasised....

....The minister's strategic analysis is equally sober: "If what we know from the Israelis and the Americans is true, then Iran has never stopped working on its own nuclear weapons and is apparently significantly further ahead than it was just a few years ago."

"At the same time," Pistorius succinctly stated, "Iran is the greatest threat in the Middle East to all its neighbors, but especially to Israel. One must remember that for 45 years, Iran has declared the destruction of Israel as its national goal in its state doctrine. So, there is a huge threat!"

.....

His verdict: "The Americans have assumed responsibility here in the region. They are the only ones who can do that. The crucial thing is that a major threat has been eliminated. That is good news for the Middle East, the Near East, and also for Europe."

Israel's unprovoked attack has rallied the people around the regime. Even liberal Teheranis, in interviews quoted by the media,

Iran Sees 75% Increase in Executions During First Four Months of 2025 over 2024

"Iran's crack­down on polit­i­cal pris­on­ers fla­grant­ly vio­lates inter­na­tion­al human rights law, includ­ing the rights to a fair tri­al and free­dom from torture."

Joint Letter by 365 indi­vid­u­als and orga­ni­za­tions con­demn­ing the exe­cu­tion of polit­i­cal pris­on­ers, released May 2, 2025.