How Formidable of a Foe is Iran?

As the US and Israel remain in conflict with Iran, media commentary has emerged on the formidability of the Iranian state.

Pro-West: Lina Khatib, a Lebanese scholar based in London, in Prospect Magazine (Left bias), described Iran as a "paper tiger" that is "at its weakest point" since its establishment in 1979 and "will not be able to recover politically, economically or militarily" from the Trump administration's strikes. Khatib said the West should "stop taking Iran's exaggerated self-projection at face value" and seize the country with "action that corresponds to reality."

Lean Pro-Iran: Chris Hedges (Left), who served as The New York Times' (Lean Left) Middle East bureau chief during his tenure with the paper from 1990 to 2005, described Trump's war on Iran as a "suicidal folly." He wrote, "Iran is not Iraq. Iran is not Afghanistan. Iran is not Lebanon. Iran is not Libya. Iran is not Syria. Iran is not Yemen. Iran is the seventeenth largest country in the world, with a land mass equivalent to the size of Western Europe. It has a population of almost 90 million — 10 times greater than Israel — and its military resources, as well as alliances with China and Russia, make it a formidable opponent. Despite Iran's relative military weakness, when set against the combined forces of the US and Israel, it can inflict a lot of damage. It will do this as swiftly as possible. Hundreds of American troops will likely be killed."

Middle Ground: David Ignatius (Center) of The Washington Post (Lean Left) opened by writing that previous US administrations always thought "the risks of war [with Iran] were too great" and expressed skepticism that the Trump administration fully understands what its endgame is for Iran. Ignatius said he "loathe[s]" the Iranian regime but warned readers not to "misjudge" its "staying power." He also included his own reporting to back up his warning: "A Bahraini security adviser told me Saturday afternoon that 14 Iranian drones had struck the port facility that's home to the US Fifth Fleet… That kind of attack usually strikes the other side in wars that America fights. The security adviser said that Bahrainis were puzzled why US forces seemed powerless to stop the drones." He also included a personal anecdote: "When I visited Iran in 2008, I was struck by the fact that police required people in automobiles to wear seat belts. On the road from Tehran to Qom, they had radar guns to catch speeders. This regime spreads chaos, but it's careful, too."

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.