The Iranians imposed almost all their pre-war terms, while the Americans failed in all their strategic objectives
June 16, 2026, 07:34
efsyn.gr PRINT EDITION
George Tsiaras
An Iranian makes a victory sign as he passes on his motorbike in front of a huge banner depicting Iran's late supreme leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yesterday on a Tehran street, after the agreement with the US became known | EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREHWith all its asterisks and blurred points, which we will naturally examine below, what we are witnessing in the last few hours is a world-historic triumph for Iran, which emerges from the surprise war of annihilation imposed upon it far stronger, strategically and politically, than it was when it was forced into it three and a half months ago. And which ultimately secured almost all the terms and prerequisites it had set from the beginning – culminating in the inclusion of Lebanon, the decoupling of the agreement from the missile program, and the last-minute addition regarding transit fees to be paid by those passing through Hormuz.
At the same time, the preliminary agreement with Tehran is an unprecedented historical humiliation for the United States of America, which utterly failed in all the individual political and military objectives it outlined with the attack of February 28th. And an undeniable personal exposure before the eyes of the whole world for the arrogant Donald Trump, on the very day of his 80th birthday!
Just a hundred days ago, the day after the backstabbing American-Israeli attack, Iran seemed doomed. Its leadership assassinated, its air defense destroyed, thousands of women and children dead, spies and agents everywhere. The economy in disarray, Russian and Chinese allies nowhere to be found, and the entire country "boiling" with rumors of an opposition uprising or even an invasion by Kurds from Iraq who, as we later learned from Trump's own lips, had agreed to play the role of US... infantry. The defeat of the Islamic Revolution seemed inevitable, half a century after its triumph, and Trump and Netanyahu were already dividing the oil and geostrategic spoils between them.
Few were there at the time – including the undersigned – who insisted that Iran was too big a bite for the teeth of the decaying superpower and its rabid Middle Eastern guard dog. But Iran proved, if nothing else, much better prepared than the US for this existential battle. The massive "decapitation" strikes against the regime stumbled upon the "Mosaic Doctrine," where every "cog" in the mechanism has three ready-for-battle replacements behind it. Air defense? While Americans and Israelis blew up elementary schools, oil tanks, and bridges, the real targets – the launchers and the vast stockpiles of missiles and drones – remained unharmed deep within the impregnable Persian mountains, with the "Guardians" shocking the Pentagon by inflicting huge damage on Israel and destroying American bases across the Persian Gulf.
But the most crucial piece of the puzzle, Tehran's true nuclear weapon, was of course the immediate (and mainly... selective, since Iran's clients were not affected) sealing of the Strait of Hormuz to "hostile" shipping: this was the blow that ultimately broke the superpower's backbone and forced most of the US's regional allies, starting with the two-faced Saudi Arabia, to demand first a ceasefire and then a definitive cessation of hostilities. To prove (once again) in this asymmetric war of attrition that victory does not go to the one with the technological advantage, but to the one who endures the inevitable sacrifices and continuously increases the cost for the (overconfident and racist/orientalist) adversary.
If you don't believe me – read the Bloomberg agency's analysis: the agreement with Iran bears all the hallmarks of an American defeat, it writes. Trump may congratulate himself on... peace, but in reality, he is the first president who started a war with Tehran and now needs an armistice to solve the problems he himself created. Problems that include the need to destroy enriched uranium stockpiles that... did not exist before Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the Obama-era Iran deal, and of course the need to open the Strait of Hormuz, which was open and... free for all before the war!
America's real failure, says Bloomberg, is that it is being dragged into signing a memorandum on Friday that leaves unresolved all the problems it tried to solve with the war, in which it now realizes it has no chance of prevailing. At the same time, however, I add, this "historic" agreement is not real – it is a 60-day "advance" in order to continue negotiations and somewhat relieve the unprecedented "bottleneck" in Hormuz, at an extremely fragile juncture for the global economy. Who truly trusts the Americans, and especially this particular president, to honor their signature?
Stab-in-the-Back Attack
Just a hundred days ago, the day after the backstabbing American-Israeli attack, Iran seemed doomed. Its leadership assassinated, its air defense destroyed, thousands of women and children dead, spies and agents everywhere. The economy in disarray, Russian and Chinese allies nowhere to be found, and the entire country "boiling" with rumors of an opposition uprising or even an invasion by Kurds from Iraq who, as we later learned from Trump's own lips, had agreed to play the role of US... infantry. The defeat of the Islamic Revolution seemed inevitable, half a century after its triumph, and Trump and Netanyahu were already dividing the oil and geostrategic spoils between them.
Few were there at the time – including the undersigned – who insisted that Iran was too big a bite for the teeth of the decaying superpower and its rabid Middle Eastern guard dog. But Iran proved, if nothing else, much better prepared than the US for this existential battle. The massive "decapitation" strikes against the regime stumbled upon the "Mosaic Doctrine," where every "cog" in the mechanism has three ready-for-battle replacements behind it. Air defense? While Americans and Israelis blew up elementary schools, oil tanks, and bridges, the real targets – the launchers and the vast stockpiles of missiles and drones – remained unharmed deep within the impregnable Persian mountains, with the "Guardians" shocking the Pentagon by inflicting huge damage on Israel and destroying American bases across the Persian Gulf.
But the most crucial piece of the puzzle, Tehran's true nuclear weapon, was of course the immediate (and mainly... selective, since Iran's clients were not affected) sealing of the Strait of Hormuz to "hostile" shipping: this was the blow that ultimately broke the superpower's backbone and forced most of the US's regional allies, starting with the two-faced Saudi Arabia, to demand first a ceasefire and then a definitive cessation of hostilities. To prove (once again) in this asymmetric war of attrition that victory does not go to the one with the technological advantage, but to the one who endures the inevitable sacrifices and continuously increases the cost for the (overconfident and racist/orientalist) adversary.
If you don't believe me – read the Bloomberg agency's analysis: the agreement with Iran bears all the hallmarks of an American defeat, it writes. Trump may congratulate himself on... peace, but in reality, he is the first president who started a war with Tehran and now needs an armistice to solve the problems he himself created. Problems that include the need to destroy enriched uranium stockpiles that... did not exist before Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the Obama-era Iran deal, and of course the need to open the Strait of Hormuz, which was open and... free for all before the war!
America's real failure, says Bloomberg, is that it is being dragged into signing a memorandum on Friday that leaves unresolved all the problems it tried to solve with the war, in which it now realizes it has no chance of prevailing. At the same time, however, I add, this "historic" agreement is not real – it is a 60-day "advance" in order to continue negotiations and somewhat relieve the unprecedented "bottleneck" in Hormuz, at an extremely fragile juncture for the global economy. Who truly trusts the Americans, and especially this particular president, to honor their signature?
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