Suffice the U.S. to Make a Mistake
May God shed light upon the soul of the late Imam Khomeini (R). The day when the late Imam stated that the U.S. cannot do a damn thing, some believed his remarks as a “boast and bluff”. But today almost the whole world and even the U.S. acknowledge that the U.S. can do nothing either in the region or in the Persian Gulf.
IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK
An evidence to this claim can be seen in the remarks of International Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS) in Britain which have been made based on a thorough assessment of strategies and doctrines of Iran in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The ISS says, “Iran now has an effective military advantage because of its ability to wage war using third parties such as Shia militias”, and it concludes, “Iran’s “third party capability” has become Tehran’s weapon of choice.”
The 16-month IISS study called Iran’s Networks of Influence claims these networks are more important to Iranian power than either its ballistic missile program, putative nuclear plans or its conventional military forces.
According to the British think-tank, overall, conventional military balance is still in favor of the U.S. and its allies in the region, the report concludes, but the balance of effective force is now in Iran’s favor.
Despite U.S. sanctions, the report says, Iran has met little international resistance for its strategy. The network, operating differently in most countries, has been designed, resourced and deployed by Tehran as its principal means of countering regional adversaries and international pressure, the IISS says. The policy “has consistently delivered Iran advantage without the cost or risk of direct confrontation with adversaries”.
The ISS report claims, “Iran is fighting and winning wars ‘fought amongst the people’, not wars between states. Iran avoids symmetrical state-on-state conflict, knowing it will be outgunned. Instead, it pursues asymmetrical warfare through non-state partners.”
However the ISS report says that the application of conventional force cannot counterbalance Iran’s sovereign capability over the past 40 years.
In Syria, Quds force commander, Qasem Suleimani, bolstered the regular Syrian army to fight multinational insurgents supported by the U.S.
In Lebanon, Iran supports Hezbollah and their relation has evolved. Iran’s rocket, anti-tank and missile inventory, and 25,000 reservists given to Hezbollah have made the Lebanese group an expeditionary force in its own right. Hezbollah, now the largest party in parliament, is able to block policy-making and the threat of Israel.
The ISS adds that countering Iranian influence requires not only local responses but also an understanding of its sovereign capability as a whole, which has become the cornerstone of the regime’s regional security strategy.
It also warns against simplistic labelling the third parties as “proxies”, pointing out Tehran does not expect an economic return from its partners, but – on the contrary – finances them.
The ISS report believes that Iran is resilient enough to resist the wave of anti-Iranian protests, but faces difficulties since “its influence relies on groups that either do not want to directly rule (as in Hezbollah in Lebanon) or are not capable of and equipped for governance (as in Iraq)”.
This assessment essentially calculated Iran’s military advantage in the region and has recommended unmilitary policy for the NATO and West’s strategic countries like the U.S., UK and France and it believes military approach to the region will be the detriment to the West.
So it should be said that the day the Late Imam (R) said that the U.S. cannot do a damn thing, he had seen today in mirror of his pure nature.
