By Timothy Alexander Guzman

 

The US has lost the war against Iran.

From members of congress to the senate, both Democrats and Republicans, from influential neocons to the mainstream media, all admit that the US has lost another war, this time against Iran.

Zionist Neoconservative warmonger Robert Kagan, the husband of Victoria Nuland, another Zionist warmonger worked under both the Obama and Biden regimes as the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. ambassador to NATO and as acting deputy Secretary of State wrote an article for The Atlantic, ‘Checkmate in Iran:  Washington can’t reverse or control the consequences of losing this war’ that openly admits that the US has been defeated in its ‘war of choice’ against Iran:

It’s hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored. The calamitous losses suffered at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and throughout the Western Pacific in the first months of World War II were eventually reversed. The defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan were costly but did not do lasting damage to America’s overall position in the world, because they were far from the main theaters of global competition. The initial failure in Iraq was mitigated by a shift in strategy that ultimately left Iraq relatively stable and unthreatening to its neighbors and kept the United States dominant in the region

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Kagan clearly says that the outcome of the war can never be reversed, that Washington’s status quo has been permanently damaged. In other words, there is no turning back:

Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished. Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started

The New York Times recently published an article ‘President Trump Lost this War’ which also admits the obvious:

Since the war began, he has said the United States would achieve “total and complete victory” and that Iran must agree to “unconditional surrender.” He suggested that regime change would occur. He said that Iran would be permitted “no enrichment” of uranium and that “the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried” near-bomb-grade nuclear material that it already holds.

None of this appears to be true. Iran’s hard-line government remains in place. The specifics of the nuclear agreement will apparently be negotiated over the next two months, but the terms seem likely to resemble those of a 2015 deal that President Barack Obama negotiated and that Mr. Trump canceled in 2018

The mainstream media still manages to downplay Iran’s military capabilities when it can. It is true that Iran has suffered losses of its navy (which is not a major part of its military), army, air force and military-industrial production plants that manufactures their lethal missiles and drones, but they still have military capabilities that can counter any attack and cause considerable damage to both the US and Israeli militaries. In fact, Iran still has a standing army, navy and air force and enough missiles that can last for at least a decade or more despite their losses:

On balance, Iran emerges the strategic winner of the four-month war. It did suffer substantial losses, including much of its navy, air force, military-industrial capacity and political leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, who was killed on the war’s first day

In fact, The New York Times had to admit the reality of Iran’s true capacity, ‘U.S. Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities’, Iran has rebuilt 30 out of 33 missile facilities and more than 90 percent of its underground storage facilities, in other words, Iran is prepared for an endless war with the US and Israel:

The Trump administration’s public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what U.S. intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors, according to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities.

Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, which could threaten American warships and oil tankers transiting the narrow waterway

With missile sites already rebuilt, Iran still has more than 70 percent of their mobile launchers and its most advanced missiles intact, “Iran still fields about 70 percent of its mobile launchers across the country and has retained roughly 70 percent of its prewar missile stockpile, according to the assessments.” So, Iran has most of its mobile launchers and missiles, and on top of that, they still have about 90 percent of its underground missile storage facilities. Various reports from multiple intelligence sources and satellite images that were analyzed say

“that Iran has regained access to roughly 90 percent of its underground missile storage and launch facilities nationwide, which are now assessed to be “partially or fully operational.”

Once again, The Atlantic published another article by Jonathan Lemire admitting that the US lost the war against Iran with severe consequences, in ‘Trump in Defeat’ it says that

“The United States is left weaker, diminished militarily, strategically, economically, and perhaps morally” and that “The war, which the United States fought alongside Israel, accomplished none of the goals that Trump named at the outset.”

Of course, The Atlantic would continue to call Iran a threat by saying it wants a nuclear weapon despite that fact that the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against developing nuclear weapons. 

“Instead, it only empowered the hard-liners in Tehran and arguably emboldened them to someday seek a nuclear weapon.” 

The article also admitted that Trump was desperate to end the war and then eased-up on his threats that he would supposedly end Iran’s civilization,

“Despite that, the president was so desperate for the war to end that he repeatedly backed off his threats—allowing Iran to call his bluff—and upbraided his close ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for responding to attacks in the region in a manner that jeopardized the negotiations.”

Trump literally allowed Netanyahu to convince him to attack Iran, setting himself up for a trap that he would not be able to get himself out of:

Trump won’t admit to any of this. He has spent recent days furiously spinning the tentative deal as a clear win and has seethed at unflattering comparisons with the deal that President Obama struck with Iran more than a decade ago, aides and outside advisers told me. Trump, they said, has privately denounced Iran hawks, some of whom are among his closest allies in the Republican Party, for questioning the strength of the agreement. Within the administration, there is a divide on the deal, but Trump sided with those advocating for the war to wind down, no matter the terms, as fears mount about the economic toll on Americans and the political costs for Republicans in the midterms

The End of US Dominance in the Middle East: US Military Bases have been Destroyed

More than 20 US bases and other military sites used for ‘Black Ops’ by the CIA and other intelligence agencies have been destroyed with hundreds, possibly thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who have been killed, but Washington is not releasing the real numbers despite claims that Trump made that there “only” has been 13 US soldiers killed in action. 

According to the ‘BBC Verify’ who investigated the extent of the damages inflicted by Iran, and confirmed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has destroyed more than 20 US military sites by verifying satellite images and various videos. 

“Iran has damaged 20 US military sites since the start of the war, satellite images and videos analyzed by BBC Verify show, suggesting the attacks are more extensive than publicly acknowledged.” 

It further went on to say that

“Tehran has targeted both US bases and shared military facilities in retaliation to the US-Israeli strikes across Iran and Lebanon over the past three months. The Pentagon says it has hit more than 13,000 targets in Iran since the start of Operation Epic Fury.”

All US military bases in the Middle East will eventually have to shut down permanently since Iran’s defensive capabilities proved that the US military cannot protect the Gulf monarchies. The New York Times, ‘Gulf Countries Confront Questions About Relying on U.S. for Protection’ interviewed Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House said that, “The U.S. security guarantee is no longer reliable in the way they thought it was.” Why?  well, Iran did considerable damage to US military bases and at the same time, they gained complete control over the Strait of Hormuz:

During almost four months of war, Iran and its allies struck military bases, energy facilities, and hotels in countries throughout the region and shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway for oil and gas shipments. The preliminary deal, Gulf leaders hope, will allow their countries to resume exporting oil and gas without Iranian interference, and permit their residents to return to daily life without fear of Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Some Iranian drones were able to evade American defense systems, and the U.S. government and military appeared unprepared for Iran’s closure of the strait

Unprepared indeed, now that the Strait of Hormuz is under Iranian control, the Trump Regime is in a bind that they cannot get out of. This alone proves that the US was defeated on the world stage militarily. 

The Memorandum of Understanding is Just a Piece of Paper Because History Tells Us So

Does the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) guarantee peace in the Middle East? No, not at all, it’s just a piece of paper and the Iranians know this. It does not mean anything. It is sort of like the 368 Treaties the US signed with Indigenous nations between 1778 and 1871 to establish a so-called “peace” by recognizing their sovereignty that defined their borders, but with westward expansionist policies, the U.S. government constantly violated or simply ignored those same treaties that resulted in massive land losses which led to forced relocations. 

A trail of broken treaties, peace deals or MOUs is in the US government’s DNA. Washington’s main ally, Israel has violated numerous UN resolutions regarding illegal settlements and military conduct that has resulted in numerous war crimes. In this point in time, who could be surprised that the US has already violated the MOU?

As the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed by both Iran and the United States, Israel continues its genocide on Gaza and Lebanon making the MOU meaningless. The first point of the memorandum is clear which does call for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other, and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other, and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon” obviously, that part has been ignored by Israel since they recently declared that they will not leave southern Lebanon, “The final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon and other provisions of this paragraph” but since Trump signed off on the MOU, the US military and Israel has violated Lebanon and Iran’s borders numerous times. Now Israel is trying to permanently occupy Lebanon’s southern sphere as part of the Greater Israel Project. 

Press TV reported on a statement released by the IRCG who said that the

“attacks carried out by the enemy against five Iranian coastal outposts earlier in the day” and that “the aggressor enemy, whose very nature is characterized by breaking commitments and violating agreements, attacked five coastal outposts of the Islamic Republic in the early hours of today under the pretext of responding to the IRGC Navy’s confronting a trespassing vessel [in the Strait of Hormuz.” 

The MOU is clearly a way for Washington and Tel Aviv to buy time in an effort to prepare for another attack on Iran. The Trump Regime, Washington’s political establishment and Israel will not accept a defeat although Iran has destroyed more than 13 major US military bases and several other military and intelligence installations who now controls the Strait of Hormuz which is a major transit point for 20 percent of the world’s oil; however, the US and Israel will continue to attack Iran even though thousands of US soldiers, sailors and marines will be sacrificed by a five-time draft dodger who still claims in his delusional world that he is the “peace president.” 

The US lost this war decisively which signals that the US is a declining hegemonic power in the Middle East, but Trump will continue the war with American taxpayers paying the bill while their grocery bills and gas prices are increasing due to Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump claimed that Iran was about to build a nuclear weapon that would have destroyed the world which was an absolute lie. Trump believes that he made the right decision regardless of the US economic consequences of his reckless decisions to go to war since he didn’t think about “Americans financial situation” when dealing with Iran in the first place. This tells you its about keeping US domination in the Middle East intact while serving Israel’s interests regardless of what the American people think, even if they go hungry. That is sort of Trump’s “let them eat cake” moment in history.

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Timothy Alexander Guzman writes on his own blog site, Silent Crow News, where this article was originally published.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

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Copyright © Timothy Alexander Guzman, Global Research, 2026