PNN – A senior regional analyst, noting that Iran has altered its strategy in the conflict with the United States, wrote that Tehran has etched its name in history through its unprecedented actions in recent days.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network; Abdul Bari Atwan, a strategic analyst specializing in regional affairs, addressed the recent escalations of tension in the region in his article. He examined the Middle East conflicts from two perspectives: the “tanker war” between the U.S. and Iran—including Iran’s missile response involving the targeting of an aircraft carrier and two U.S. destroyers—and the humiliating silence of the U.S. in the face of these events, alongside Trump’s retreat from his threats.
This article states that Iranian officials have replaced their previous strategy—characterized by restraint and calculated, precise responses aimed at avoiding escalation—with a new approach involving swift, retaliatory action, an expansion of the scope of conflict, and the deployment of new precision-guided missiles to the battlefield; this shift is intended to shock the adversary and compel the US and Zionist sides to retreat.
He pointed to several indicators—including repeated threats from Iranian officials such as Major General Mohsen Rezaei (Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council) and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (Speaker of the Iranian Parliament), as well as American fears regarding potential missile strikes on their bases in Jordan and elsewhere in the region—and wrote that it was precisely this sense of desperation that prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking from his underground bunker, to threaten that if Iran attacked the occupied territories, Tel Aviv would launch strikes beyond anything Tehran could even imagine.
Atwan adds that Iran’s political leaders and new military commanders have shifted their stance from “cautious strikes” to “large-scale attacks,” employing advanced weaponry that had not been utilized in previous confrontations. This move aims to solidify a deterrence policy based on “preemptive, immediate, and rapid strikes against enemy targets” rather than waiting for enemy aggression.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf summarized Iran’s new deterrence policy by stating that in the event of any disruption to Iranian oil exports, not a single drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz or elsewhere. This implies the continued closure of the Straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, alongside strikes on US oil wells, oil companies, and military bases throughout the region.
A senior regional analyst noted that the overwhelming majority of Arab oil-producing nations—particularly those in the Persian Gulf—have not deposited a single dollar of oil and gas export revenue into their treasuries over the past five months. He added that this situation has resulted in crippling budget deficits, forcing these countries to either rely on financial reserves held in Western banks or turn to loans to cover the shortfall. Furthermore, most of these nations have adopted domestic cost-management measures and austerity policies to prepare for a prolonged conflict.
Pointing to Netanyahu’s threats against Iran—despite repeated failures to bring about regime change there—Atwan added that what Netanyahu fails to realize, or chooses to ignore, is that launching a major attack on Iran could lead to the collapse of the Zionist regime within a matter of hours.
He further noted that Netanyahu’s decision to forgo U.S. participation in the recent aggression against Iran stemmed from a fear of precision Iranian missiles and those possessed by the Resistance in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. Over the past two years, he has attempted aggression against Iran three times, resulting in the devastation of several cities across the occupied territories—ranging from Greater Tel Aviv to Haifa, Dimona, Eilat, and Safed—yet he prohibits the media from publishing images of this destruction.
At the end of his article, Atwan wrote that it is not Israel that has become more powerful than ever before; rather, it is Iran that has made history as the first country to dare to attack US aircraft carriers—whether directly or through its allies.