2026 Iran War Strategy and Analysis

[NorthKimBestKim]

Taliban didn't submit.

They didn't, but the whole country is cratered into dust anyway and set back to 17th century, so that is a win for the U.S. simply by the fact that Afghanistan is nothing and is totally cratered.

These days, it seems that the only thing Taliban is good for, is to terrorize own women and being pro-Hindutva / pro-Modi cucks against Pakistan. Attacking Pakistan from time to time.

When you factor all this in, it really is not much of a "win" for Afghanistan.

If the U.S. Empire succeed to continue beating Iran further and further back, that is a success. Iran hits U.S. once, U.S. hits 10 times harder, and harder, and the point in geopolitics is to deny the enemy to develop into a so-called "threat".

As long as the U.S. is able to beat down Iran into the situation where Iran no longer is considered a "threat", such as having its universities, STEM scienticts, infrastructure and military decimated, that is a win for the U.S.

The point is: Syria looked much better in 2010 than now in 2026, even if Assad had been in power today, the country is smoked.

Same goes for Libya. Look at them today, totally wasted. Lets say that Gaddafi was alive. Libya today in 2026, is still much more destroyed compared to 2010.

In essence, it's not important if Iran still stands - what matters is to destroy and reduce any current and future "potential" Iran might have.
That is very easy to do, since Russia and PRC aren't doing shit to help Iran in a sufficient way anyway. That is why Empire (almost) always wins.

It's been very long time since the Imperial forces have experiences lots of American corpses floating around in the Western Pacific, including Korea and Vietnam which are the only two places the Empire had to take massive and considerable losses, but the Empire is still standing.

One cannot win against Empire but sitting and just "do nothing" BS. Because as of 2026, the list of countries that are able to resist has truly been shortened considerably.

I don't know if you remember the video from General Clark 25 years ago. They had a nice list of countries that must be smoked, before then move against Russia, PRC and DPRK in some way or another, and Iran is the last stand before that happens.

Sure, there has been some opinions expressed that Turkey, Algeria and Pakistan need to be destroyed as well, but either way, the Empire is working 24 / 7. It never rests, it plans, and it executes its Imperial plans. Taking out one by one. And it is easy to take out one by one, since Russia and PRC are just sitting and looking. Russia is already busy as it is against Imperial NATO forces, and PRC should be able to do much more, but they don't want to, and the whole world is watching right now, so we will see if it will help anyone to just sit and watch "forever". Until they come and knock on PRC' door again, for 2nd round of Century of Humiliation 2.0 downloading. They always come as a coalition, in a group. Never alone.

I guess one cannot expect much of someone who is also looking at the civil war in Myanmar and doing nothing about that either for the most part.

 

[NorthKimBestKim]

It's actually in the US's interest that the GCC and Iran blow up each others' oilwells. The US's relative global influence grows by virtue of being an oil producer. If you consider the US capturing Maduro and the recent Ukrainian hits on Russian oil industry, the grand strategic picture is pretty obvious.

I didn't disagree with that view, so I agree. What I ment with my post is that GCC is simply an "arena" (Non-U.S. territory) that U.S. gladly will use as a battle ground.

U.S. couldn't care less if some building in Dubai are on fire because of Iranian drones or missiles. As long as no drones or missiles can hit U.S. territory, U.S. will keep going.

As long as the country that is attacked (Iran) does not have the ability to destroy or attack targets in the continental U.S., Hawaii or Alaska, then the U.S. doesn't mind attacking that country directly, brutally and without mercy.

That is how Empire operates: always in group, with its colonies (colonies and U.S. regimes taking the heat) whereas the country that is attacked always have to fight alone and doesn't stand much chance.

Let me remind anyone, the only time the U.S. experienced heavy losses and knowing what getting some beating is, is when the U.S. wanted to take whole Vietnam and North Korea. Why does still Vietnam and DPRK exist? Because, USSR and PRC had a backbone back then, Stalin (Korea), and Mao (Vietnam) and went in for a full support for DPRK and Vietnam.

This should be the lesson for anyone who likes to "sit and watch and do nothing". The fact that the only time U.S. got some real beating, was precisely when USSR and PRC cooperated and went "all-in". NOT by sitting and watching.

 

[Africablack]

I didn't disagree with that view, so I agree. What I ment with my post is that GCC is simply an "arena" (Non-U.S. territory) that U.S. gladly will use as a battle ground.

U.S. couldn't care less if some building in Dubai are on fire because of Iranian drones or missiles. As long as no drones or missiles can hit U.S. territory, U.S. will keep going.

As long as the country that is attacked (Iran) does not have the ability to destroy or attack targets in the continental U.S., Hawaii or Alaska, then the U.S. doesn't mind attacking that country directly, brutally and without mercy.

That is how Empire operates: always in group, with its colonies (colonies and U.S. regimes taking the heat) whereas the country that is attacked always have to fight alone and doesn't stand much chance.

Let me remind anyone, the only time the U.S. experienced heavy losses and knowing what getting some beating is, is when the U.S. wanted to take whole Vietnam and North Korea. Why does still Vietnam and DPRK exist? Because, USSR and PRC had a backbone back then, Stalin (Korea), and Mao (Vietnam) and went in for a full support for DPRK and Vietnam.

This should be the lesson for anyone who likes to "sit and watch and do nothing". The fact that the only time U.S. got some real beating, was precisely when USSR and PRC cooperated and went "all-in". NOT by sitting and watching.

Yes, and where is the USSR today?

I think you have a superficial view of what constitutes a victory, you believe blowing up more things than the enemy means you're "winning". The US dropped more bombs on Vietnam than anything the world has ever seen but still ran out of there with its tail tucked between its legs and yet your praise them winning but deny Iran the same. Here's the truth of the matter; the Americans never fight anyone that has the heart to punch back, it's been that way for pretty much all its history and when Iran started punching back they immediately called for a ceasefire to regroup. A victory for the US in Iran would be to completely subjugate it, a victory for Iran would be to survive long enough to tire the US to the point that they leave.

 

[FriedRiceNSpice]

And the west has demonstrated in no uncertain terms how easily and quickly all that wealth and assets can be stripped from them with their treatment of Russia. If they can rob Russia like that, a nuclear power with significantly more power, confiscating all the Gulf states wealth in the west is taking Candy from a baby in comparison.

It would be lunacy of the highest order to know that risk and continue to pile all your eggs into that one basket.



It’s kinda amusing you can say that with a straight face after all that is happening!

The USA is proving itself to be by far the biggest security threat the Gulf States have ever dreamed of. And that despite the fact that the Gulf states are fully invested in the US security alliances, with U.S. bases and assets on their soil at great monetary and political costs. They literally cannot be any more closely aligned to US interests and still unilateral US action is literally threatening the very foundation of their way of life and continues survival.

It takes a special kind of ‘logic’ to be so comprehensively burnt and betrayed by an arrangement that overwhelmingly benefits the other party and decide doubling down up to deepen that relationship is the best strategy to guard against future similar betrayals.



An obvious logical fallacy that what happened in the past will forever repeat into the future. As for the coup’s comment, again, that’s actually often the political costs that results from adherence to the deeply unpopular pro-American and Israeli positions that you are advocating.

Have you considered the possibility that the Gulf leaders wouldn’t need to be so worried about internal coups and unrest if they just abandon their slavish obedience of American and Israeli demands that is often the root cause of their internal security problems?



Thats entirely illogical and is basically circular reasoning.

You fundamentally don't understand the society of power dynamics of the GCC states. Perhaps you see the veneer of modern, wealthy cities and assume they are modern day nation states when in reality these are archaic tribal societies dictated by the interests of tribal elites.

You were the one to suggest that the GCC should seek security from Pakistan by funding Pakistan's procurement of Chinese weapons in exchange for security agreements. So how is it illogical for me to point out in fact they have already been doing that?

GCC is not as aligned with US interests as you may think - they have been increasing cooperation and alignment with China and Russia for quite some time now. They have been selling their oil in RMB, KSA was nudged by China to normalize relations with Iran. They have been actively seeking to diversify their strategic partnerships. In fact, if it wasn't for those partnerships, it is likely the Iranians would have hit GCC energy production and infrastructure much harder than they actually did.

 

[Randomuser]

They didn't, but the whole country is cratered into dust anyway and set back to 17th century, so that is a win for the U.S. simply by the fact that Afghanistan is nothing and is totally cratered.

These days, it seems that the only thing Taliban is good for, is to terrorize own women and being pro-Hindutva / pro-Modi cucks against Pakistan. Attacking Pakistan from time to time.

When you factor all this in, it really is not much of a "win" for Afghanistan.

If the U.S. Empire succeed to continue beating Iran further and further back, that is a success. Iran hits U.S. once, U.S. hits 10 times harder, and harder, and the point in geopolitics is to deny the enemy to develop into a so-called "threat".

As long as the U.S. is able to beat down Iran into the situation where Iran no longer is considered a "threat", such as having its universities, STEM scienticts, infrastructure and military decimated, that is a win for the U.S.

The point is: Syria looked much better in 2010 than now in 2026, even if Assad had been in power today, the country is smoked.

Same goes for Libya. Look at them today, totally wasted. Lets say that Gaddafi was alive. Libya today in 2026, is still much more destroyed compared to 2010.

In essence, it's not important if Iran still stands - what matters is to destroy and reduce any current and future "potential" Iran might have.
That is very easy to do, since Russia and PRC aren't doing shit to help Iran in a sufficient way anyway. That is why Empire (almost) always wins.

It's been very long time since the Imperial forces have experiences lots of American corpses floating around in the Western Pacific, including Korea and Vietnam which are the only two places the Empire had to take massive and considerable losses, but the Empire is still standing.

One cannot win against Empire but sitting and just "do nothing" BS. Because as of 2026, the list of countries that are able to resist has truly been shortened considerably.

I don't know if you remember the video from General Clark 25 years ago. They had a nice list of countries that must be smoked, before then move against Russia, PRC and DPRK in some way or another, and Iran is the last stand before that happens.

Sure, there has been some opinions expressed that Turkey, Algeria and Pakistan need to be destroyed as well, but either way, the Empire is working 24 / 7. It never rests, it plans, and it executes its Imperial plans. Taking out one by one. And it is easy to take out one by one, since Russia and PRC are just sitting and looking. Russia is already busy as it is against Imperial NATO forces, and PRC should be able to do much more, but they don't want to, and the whole world is watching right now, so we will see if it will help anyone to just sit and watch "forever". Until they come and knock on PRC' door again, for 2nd round of Century of Humiliation 2.0 downloading. They always come as a coalition, in a group. Never alone.

I guess one cannot expect much of someone who is also looking at the civil war in Myanmar and doing nothing about that either for the most part.

It's possible maybe Iran isn't the same as it's Arab peers in the middle east. Not really sure how it changes so much but it does. They just are more competent.

 

[montyp165]

It's possible maybe Iran isn't the same as it's Arab peers in the middle east. Not really sure how it changes so much but it does. They just are more competent.

The political and cultural history of Iran more closely resembles China's than any of the GCC states to begin with, so its political and social cohesion is going to be stronger by comparison.

 

[_killuminati_]

They didn't, but the whole country is cratered into dust anyway and set back to 17th century, so that is a win for the U.S. simply by the fact that Afghanistan is nothing and is totally cratered.

Do you even know what the US objectives were in Afghanistan? None of them were met,

• Enron's pipeline
• Dismantling of Taliban
• Friendly government
• Capture of Osama

Afghanistan was already cratered by the preceding Civil War and Soviet invasion.

 

[tankphobia]

I don't think China will do escort of ships simply because the blockade either exists or it doesn't.

Even if the US concedes, escorting their own ships across while leaving the rest stuck is basically agreeing with the Iranian position that they control the strait and are free to charge tolls as they wish. China has a far closer economic relationship with GCC than Iran, why would they support a toll that does not benefit anyone but Iran? Charging a toll is a collective punishment on the world, not targeted towards the states that were involved in this mess in the first place.

Furthermore, the ceasefire/open strait from Iranian side is contingent on Israel NOT bombing Lebanon, I trust the IRGC when they announced that the strait is closed to all traffic. China does not get a free pass to go through the strait.

On the topic of economy, the blockade is doing huge damage to Iranian government coffers, something like 25% of the Iranian GDP relies on oil and gas exports. Using the closure of the strait is a weapon of last resort that will have ripple effects on the already struggling economy.

 

[solarz]

I don't think China will do escort of ships simply because the blockade either exists or it doesn't.

Even if the US concedes, escorting their own ships across while leaving the rest stuck is basically agreeing with the Iranian position that they control the strait and are free to charge tolls as they wish. China has a far closer economic relationship with GCC than Iran, why would they support a toll that does not benefit anyone but Iran? Charging a toll is a collective punishment on the world, not targeted towards the states that were involved in this mess in the first place.

Furthermore, the ceasefire/open strait from Iranian side is contingent on Israel NOT bombing Lebanon, I trust the IRGC when they announced that the strait is closed to all traffic. China does not get a free pass to go through the strait.

On the topic of economy, the blockade is doing huge damage to Iranian government coffers, something like 25% of the Iranian GDP relies on oil and gas exports. Using the closure of the strait is a weapon of last resort that will have ripple effects on the already struggling economy.

Escort missions are an escalation move that should only be taken in response to direct American attempts to board or interdict Chinese commercial vessels. Until that happens, it’s enough for the PLAN to be in the area.

 

[NorthKimBestKim]

Do you even know what the US objectives were in Afghanistan? None of them were met,

• Enron's pipeline
• Dismantling of Taliban
• Friendly government
• Capture of Osama

Afghanistan was already cratered by the preceding Civil War and Soviet invasion.

No one cares. What matters is that Afghanistan was robbed of another 20 years of development, even though they were already cratered.

So how much is 20 years of lost development worth? Also, lets not pretend that the U.S. wasn't involved in cratering of Afghanistan pre-2001 as well by supporting Mujahedeen forcing against Soviet forces in order to create maximum damage on Afghanistan by itself.

If you look at what Taliban is today, are you happy how things are going?

That fact that Taliban bows down to Modi-regime and attacks Pakistan? And then Pakistan has to respond, naturally by attacking back.

Yaay, what a "victory for Taliban", indeed.