America took 20 years to replace Taliban with Taliban in Afghanistan but they took just 10 days to replace Khamenei with Khamenei in Iran.
The regime change – which was the excuse given to attack Iran – did not happen .The disintegration of Iran did not happen, instead the Iranian people unified in solidarity under their new leader.
A fortnight into the war and Iran is not only withstanding the fierce US Israel onslaught, it is throwing counter punches and bleeding American assets in the gulf and stretching the so called super power to it’s limits.
USS Abraham Lincoln has been hit and made to retreat from the Persian gulf, THAAD & Patriot interceptors have been diverted from South korea & Japan to protect Israel leaving the US allies in the gulf in the lurch.
Thus countries like UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait & Oman have received a pounding from the unending barrage of low cost drones and missiles.” We gave everything to Israel and left our middle east allies with nothing,” said retd Lt Col in the US army Tony Aguilar.
The confidence of US allies in the middle east has been shaken and they are beginning to feel that allying with US is more of a liability.
UAE, which Iran blames for aiding the US by allowing it’s territory for military bases has been targeted with smoke bellowing from the Fujairah oil facility in the gulf of Oman which handles 1.7 million barrels per day .
This came hours after Iran’s oil facilities in the Kharg island were hit by the B2 & B 52 bombers. The US. President Trump said that he could hit Kharg again for fun as if it was a gaming session.
Iran maintains it’s stranglehold on the strait of Hormuz allowing mostly Chinese shipments & oil tankers through the narrow strait.
An edgy US President who was lulled into the war by Netanyahu is sending more reinforcements including 2000 odd amphibious marines, the USS Gerald H Ford & the USS Nimitz from the fifth fleet to maintain it’s shrinking footprints in the middle east. over the 16 day war which now seems unending.
US economist & political analyst Jeffery Sachs says that “the war with Iran may just mean escalation to Armageddon. US & Israel are dragging the world towards world War lll.”
Congressmen Andrie Carson said ” there was no intelligence to indicate that their was any imminent threat from Iran before the US & Israel attacked the country and killed it’s Supreme leader Ayotullah Khamenei. ”
Iran’s asymmetrical warfare is not without strategy but aimed at hitting at the US where it hurts.
Hitting the military and air bases in the gulf, hitting the gulf states energy infrastructure, hitting their costly de-salitation plants which are nearly impossible to protect thus putting their infrastructure and basic amenities in disarray and making them wary of the US & it’s superpower status.
The US economy thrives on petrodollars which are pumped by its middle east partners like UAE, Saudi Arabia & Kuwait under a trade agreement dating back 4 decades. These petro dollars are used to buy US treasury bonds, Wall Street equities & AI investments propelling the US economy.
When all this stops as Iran has partially succeeded in doing the US economy will be in a tailspin.
Gas prices have already risen by 50 cents in America since the war started and this is bound to have a spiralling effect on food prices & inflation.
With the (GCC) Gulf Cooperation Council apparently withholding 3 trillion dollars of investments to the US the economy bubble is on the brink.
China is waiting in the wings to make it’s yuan count globally and actively supporting Iran with technology and satellite imagery.
It boils down to how long can Iran sustain it’s counter punching across the middle east pummeling oil facilities, ports, strategic assets and keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed. Who will blink first only time will tell.
