Salem Alktebi
Israel Hayom, Aug. 11, 2024
“For the first time, the Iranian regime finds its hands bound from a genuine military response that would restore its pride, especially since the theatrics it carried out in response to targeting the Iranian consulate in Damascus did not convince anyone.”
No analyst would doubt that the Iranian regime is facing its worst crisis since it came to power after Supreme Leader Ali Khomeini’s revolution in 1979. In previous eras, the regime faced tribulations but possessed strategic alternatives that enabled it to navigate them without catastrophic losses or, more precisely, with constrained detriments.
However, this time, the crisis appears altogether distinct. The Iranian regime has been subjected to a total national humiliation and degradation with the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Hamas terrorist movement in the heart of Tehran, without possessing the capability to confront or retaliate in a manner that would restore even a modicum of its prestige and dignity without such a response having more severe ramifications.
The Iranian regime’s bewilderment after Haniyeh’s assassination was more acute than the repercussions of the downing of the helicopter of former President Ebrahim Raisi and confirmation of his demise along with his companions. The challenge in this assassination operation is manifest, and the intelligence confrontation is direct and overt, striking at the regime’s ability to safeguard the country and undermining all its repeated assertions over recent years about the level of military and technological advancement.… [To read the full article, click here]