The war on Iran will likely end in American retreat
Key takeaways
- The American empire cannot win the war against Iran at acceptable financial, military, and political costs.
- The United States cannot continue the war without producing disastrous consequences.
- The US – Israel war plan was a decapitation strike, sold to President Donald Trump by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and David Barnea, the director of the Mossad.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The American empire cannot win the war against Iran at acceptable financial, military, and political costs.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo An Iranian walks next to an anti-US mural in a street in Tehran, Iran, 04 May 2026 [Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]The war against Iran that the United States and Israel launched on February 28, 2026, will likely end in an American retreat. The United States cannot continue the war without producing disastrous consequences. A renewed escalation would likely lead to the destruction of the region’s oil, gas, and desalination infrastructure, causing a prolonged global catastrophe. Iran can credibly impose costs that the United States cannot bear and that the world should not suffer.
The US – Israel war plan was a decapitation strike, sold to President Donald Trump by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and David Barnea, the director of the Mossad. The premise was that an aggressive joint US–Israeli bombing campaign would so degrade the Iranian regime’s command structure, nuclear programme, and IRGC senior leadership that the regime would fracture. The United States and Israel would then impose a pliable government in Tehran.