The Iranian conflict is giving a view of America’s global might. That is, unless you are blind or refuse to see.
For 47 years, Iran’s terrorism held the world in thrall. In just weeks, its tentacles have withered. For the most part, Iran’s terrorist proxies have been no-shows in the conflict.
Iran’s navy and air force are gone. Its radar defenses are gone. Its ballistic missile and drone capabilities are seriously degraded. Its weapons-grade uranium remains buried under mountains of rubble. It has no control over its skies and, other than striking out at defenseless commercial targets, it cannot challenge anyone on the seas. It’s only serious military capability now comes from the IRGC, not its regular military. (RELATED: Trump’s Pakistan Card and Iran’s ‘Paranoid Inertia’)
Iran’s terrorist leadership has been struck so hard and so thoroughly that its regime has shifted from theocracy to military dictatorship. Its leader a figurehead who cannot appear in public.
The U.S. has accomplished these unprecedented tasks using less than 10 percent of its military capabilities. The tragic 13 military deaths thus far exactly match the number lost in 2021’s ignominious Afghanistan withdrawal — a show of inept weakness that helped set the stage for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s increased belligerence globally, Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel, Venezuela’s stolen 2024 election, and China’s attempted inroads into the Caribbean.
Simultaneously, the U.S. is holding its annual large-scale military exercise with allies a world away in the Pacific.
In contrast, America’s military adversaries look impotent in the Middle East. Russia is already consumed with its horrendously misjudged mission in Ukraine, which has changed thoughts about modern warfare and estimations of Russia’s military capabilities. China can only sit and watch as its strategic “Achilles heel” is controlled by its primary adversary and only contemplate its vulnerability in any potential military conflict, including one over a Taiwan it longs to subjugate. (RELATED: A World Still at War)
America’s erstwhile allies in Europe look worse still. The Iranian conflict has underscored its strategic insignificance. Their own actions have reduced this strategic value even more, as they bar U.S. military flights from bases in their countries: Europe has managed to neutralize far more U.S. military power than Iran has, raising the pregnant question of why the U.S. should leave our military so far removed from our strategic interests and so vulnerable to others’ actions. And Europe’s military capabilities appear weakest of all: Long a protectorate of America’s military strength, Europe clearly is incapable of projecting any semblance of power, even in a region essentially adjacent to it. (RELATED: NATO Commits Suicide — All We Can Do Is Bury It)
Assuredly, there have been setbacks in America’s military operations in Iran: a near loss of airmen, an early fatal friendly fire incident. Nor have Iran’s terrorists yet been brought to their knees; however, this is more a factor of terrorist fanaticism than what they have endured. Anyone else in their right mind would have capitulated, had not their own crimes been so great as to make them fear their own citizens’ justice even more.
Nor is the expression of America’s might all military.
While Iran’s economy was in shambles even before the conflict began, it is worse now. If America did not care more for Iran’s people than Iran’s terrorist leaders do, its economy would, and could, be obliterated at any moment. For what it’s worth, this is exactly what Iran’s strikes at its neighbors have been intended to do and something Iran would not hesitate to do to America if it could.
Yet America’s economy is largely registering only the cost increase coming from oil’s global price rise. There is no shortage of fuel, as there was 50 years ago during the Arab oil embargo. America’s stock markets remain strong (above pre-conflict levels), even as Iran insists it will not negotiate and continues interdicting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, an area it can affect only by virtue of geography, not real military capability. America’s energy security remains unmatched during the conflict; over time, this will likely grow as domestic production increases and as more secure sources begin coming from the Caribbean. Contrastingly, global demand could potentially shift from Iran, which has proven itself an unreliable supplier.
All of this is patently clear. Clear, that is, to those who allow themselves to see. America’s Left stands at the forefront of those who will not. Their blind hatred of President Trump and seemingly America itself prevents them from admitting, much less admiring, America’s might that is on display before them. Fortunately for America, our external enemies are not as blind as our internal ones are. They undoubtedly see very well. And we are safer for it.
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J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left, from RealClear Publishing. Follow him on Substack.
