Your grapevine is suffering from red blotch virus, you need to cut it back and burn it!
It’s been a disastrous few months for Iran and its ability to threaten its regional rivals and enemies. The Israel’s security forces have crippled the leadership of Iran’s two most potent allied militias: Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The surprise collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria not only cost Iran its most important state ally but cut off the route it has used to supply Hezbollah with weapons and support. Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to attack shipping traffic through the Red Sea, but an emboldened Israel has scored direct hits against its fighters, including inside Yemen itself. Iran has also recognized that Russia, its most important ally outside the Middle East, is so preoccupied with Ukraine that Moscow’s needs outstrip its generosity. In short, Iran has seen the collapse of its regional empire by proxy—the so-called Axis of Resistance.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered direct strikes on Iranian territory in 2024, knowing there was little Tehran could do to retaliate. Donald Trump, a man who has long argued that Iran responds only to “maximum pressure,” is now once again President of the United States. He doesn’t want a costly all-out war with Iran, but will be watching closely for any sign that its leaders might attempt a push to build a nuclear bomb. There is also the temptation, no on the U.S. and Israeli side, to extend maximum pressure into military action.
Iran’s domestic problems might pose an even greater threat to leaders of the Islamic Republic. Its sanction-plagued economy is running on fumes. The value of its currency is spiraling, inflation stands around 30%, and a broad range of Iran’s people are understandably growing angrier.
Read More: Humiliated Abroad, Iran Is Also Enfeebled at Home
The latest public frustrations have focused on an energy crisis that has forced sporadic blackouts and the closure of schools and businesses to conserve natural gas, which supplies most of the country’s power and heat. The economy has been so incompetently and corruptly managed that Iran, which has the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves, faces severe gas shortages. (Iran burns oil instead, and has some of the world’s most polluted cities.)
The regime is grappling with the collapse of its regional "Axis of Resistance" and mounting economic troubles at home.
time.com