|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://english.alarabiya.net/views/2026/03/08/the-end-of-iran-as-a-military-power-
The End of Iran as a Military Power
(Al Arabiya) Abdulrahman al-Rashed - After only one week since the outbreak of large-scale war, the early conclusion is that the existential threat Iran once posed to the region through its arsenal has effectively been neutralized. The war demonstrated clearly that the Iranian regime had both the plans and the capability to devastate the Gulf region. Its attacks targeted more than ten countries. Although the regime claimed its strikes were directed at military targets, in reality many of them hit civilian sites, including ports, airports, hotels and residential neighborhoods. Iran built these capabilities with the aim of dominating the region. Tehran's strategy of developing destructive capacities capable of paralyzing or even toppling neighboring states was never a secret. The question was always when "zero hour" would arrive, perhaps after the regime achieved nuclear deterrence, which would have granted Tehran protection from international military intervention. Stripping the regime of its military claws would represent a historic achievement of enormous significance. Regardless of whether the current regime survives or a successor emerges from within it, Iran's ability to threaten the region will have been largely eliminated by the end of the war, and its regional tools of influence will likely disappear. The writer is the chairman of Al Arabiya's editorial board and former editor-in-chief of Asharq al-Awsat.