The Iranians, descendants of ancient Persia who brought the world chess and distinct musical syncopations, are not a stupid people.
Years ago an Iranian professor who studied and taught political science in Texas would appear on al-Jazeera's "Inside Story" from Iran. He was, incidentally, a loyal Dallas Cowboys fan. People like him advise Tehran about America and our election cycles.
Like 2024, 2026 may also be decided by America and Israel's Islamophobic misadventures in the Middle East.
Iran's multi-decade isolation by the West and constant threat of attack from Israel have informed their military-industrial complex to stockpile drones, rockets, and missiles. Iran produces so many drones that they sell them to Russia.
Without access to the numbers, I daresay Iran can probably continue launching drones and rockets at targets throughout the Middle East and outlast US and Israeli interceptor systems. Israel already reported a shortage of Arrow-3 interceptors.
Iran will continue counterattacking to hurt the Western economies (which they were kicked out of anyway).
Nota Bene: The Bosnian Serb Army was initially running roughshod over the Bosnian Army in the 1992-95 Civil War, suffering fewer casualties than the Bosniaks. After the BiH Army was armed with Western armaments and the Bosnian Croats allied with them, Bosnian Serb casualties started to mount and the war started to become unpopular with Serbian families back home. This helped bring them to the Dayton Peace Accords (DPA).
As a DPA Compliance Monitor, I met a Bosnian Serb military veteran who rolled up his shirt and showed me several bullet hole scars on his torso, just like the Preacher in the film Pale Rider. I was astounded he was alive. This Serb was the angriest man I ever came across during my several missions to the Balkans.
"Look! Look at me! And still the Bosnian Serb government doesn't send me money or someone to help me after all the promises they made to me and everything I went through! Look at my hut! See how I live? Ptooey!"
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"Tehran stockpiled drones and rockets for a situation like this."
One estimate I read said Iran has many thousand Shehad drones. Russia is manufacturing them too and sending them to Iran. Seems Iran can keep making trouble as long as they want to.
It'll be interesting to see who emerges as the leadership of Iran. New Ayatollah Khamenei may not even be alive. No one's seen him. Or, he may be a wounded, babbling vegetable for all we know. Looks like the IGRC are currently calling the shots, and reports of internal power struggles are numerous. Who would we even negotiate with? Until Iran's power struggle shakes out, nothing's for certain.
What we do know is that Trump's war of choice has started an inflation snowball rolling and growing rapidly growing in size, from gas at the pump to the tidal wave of price increases on their way thanks to higher shipping costs.