The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is far from the decisive victory President Trump initially celebrated as “excellent.” The swift tactical strike has failed, with Israel now begging the U.S. to send in more bombers and missiles.
With the U.S. Marines, Air Forces and Navy deployed to surround Iran and to assist the Israeli military, the opening strikes were brutal and unexpected. They targeted Iranian commanders, as they slept in their homes, to decapitate Iran’s military leadership and paralyze its response.
President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he had discussed the planned attack with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 9, five days before it was launched. Trump, knowing the attack was imminent, scheduled nuclear talks with Iran for June 15 in Oman, leaving Iran to believe that there would be no attack as long as the talks continued.
For a brief moment, it seemed that the gamble by the U.S. Central Command, which had spent the last eight months planning the attack with the Israeli armed forces and providing the “intelligence” on targets in Iran, had paid off. Trump, eager to bask in the glow of apparent victory, rushed to claim credit — even as his own administration was trying to downplay any U.S. involvement.
But the illusion of U.S.-Israeli dominance was shattered within hours. Iran rapidly restructured its command, activated its air defenses, and unleashed a series of missile barrages that penetrated Israel’s much-vaunted defenses, striking at the heart of Tel Aviv and even the Ministry of Defense. This swift and effective counterattack made clear that the initial success of the U.S.-armed Israeli military was fleeting and that the war would not be won with shock and awe. Tehran struck back hard and fast.
As the conflict has dragged on, U.S.-backed Israeli forces inflicted further devastation on Iran’s infrastructure, targeting oil refineries and civilian sites. Yet Iran’s retaliatory strikes only grew more effective, exposing the vulnerabilities of Israel’s air defense systems. Despite heavy bombardment, Israel failed to destroy Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities, limiting the impact on Tehran’s nuclear program.
U.S.-Israeli war plan unravels
Ali Salehian, a senior researcher at the Governance and Policy Think Tank affiliated with Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, wrote in The Cradle on “why the shock strategy failed against Iran.”
Tehran’s rapid retaliation and deep strategic reserves have exposed the limits of U.S.-Israeli power.
First, Iran’s military command is vast, experienced, and rapidly replaceable. “Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi pointed to this capacity, dismissing assumptions that a few assassinations could cripple national defense.”
Second, geography matters. Iran’s sheer size allows the strategic dispersal of critical assets. U.S.-Israeli jets may have briefly penetrated key western nodes, but much of Iran’s infrastructure remains embedded in its eastern and central territories. The state’s military doctrine is built around such depth.
But perhaps the gravest misjudgment lay in the U.S.-Israeli reading of Iran’s internal cohesion. The U.S.-Israeli planners appeared to have assumed a sudden external strike would activate opposition forces within Iran.
Salehian writes:
“Iran’s political unity in the face of external threats has been repeatedly demonstrated. Even segments of society critical of the Islamic Republic have closed ranks when faced with foreign aggression. It is a nationalism forged not from state propaganda, but from the collective memory of wars, invasions, and isolation.”
Israel begs for U.S. military escalation
Meanwhile, the U.S. is moving more Naval combat power into position alongside the U.S. destroyers helping shield Israel from Iranian missiles, Business Insider reports.
“A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner is now in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, joining destroyers USS Arleigh Burke and USS The Sullivans, and additional warships could be heading that way.
“The official said Arleigh Burke and The Sullivans have, in recent days, launched missile interceptors in defense of Israel amid Iranian retaliatory attacks. It’s unclear if there have been confirmed intercepts.
“The official said that in addition to sea-based air defense, the U.S. military also provided land-based support to Israel. This potentially involved the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile battery or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system.”
So far, the U.S. military has not sent in its bunker-buster bombers, as the New York Times is encouraging. “On June 17, President Trump abruptly left the G-7 summit amid speculation that the U.S. would join Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear program using bunker-buster bombs carried by B-2 bombers.
Recognizing that its military alone can’t secure a victory, Israel is now pressuring Washington to join the offensive and send in the B2 bombers. Israel’s message is clear: “We can’t win without more – a lot more — U.S. military intervention.”
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