I think this is really poor analysis. So many liberal takes on the Iran war assume Iran has been largely unfazed by the US and Israeli military campaign, because there is no free media in Iran and the regime prevents dissemination of information and images of the destruction. Iran has been bombed more than 17,000 times since February. US and Israeli jets had complete and uncontested air superiority over Iran and were able to hit any target they wanted at will. Iran’s military capabilities are massively degraded. Their economy is in shambles, as they suffer hyperinflation and near-famine conditions. They were a middle-income country and a regional military power before the war, and now they are poor and weak. The damage they have suffered is the equivalent of years of their entire GDP. Many analysts seem to believe they have shrugged off the onslaught because they can still deploy small boats to harass tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Many analysts seem to believe that, because their missile and drone attacks caused moderate damage at several US airbases, they somehow got the better of the exchange. Many analysts seem to believe Iranians can suffer rolling power outages, empty grocery stores and hyperinflation more easily than Americans can suffer moderately higher gas prices. There is no evidence this is true. And there is no evidence the US is weaker than it was in the past. We didn’t have any functioning missile defense protecting Middle East allies and assets until the 2010s, and part of the reason we never attacked Iran before was because such a war would have been extremely costly. Now, we have demonstrated the ability to deflect much of their assault using new technologies, and we absolutely devastated them to the point where they are greatly diminished as a regional military power relative to our ally, Israel.