Iranian Army Day 2025. Photo by Student News Agency, CC Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons
For decades, Iran has been pledging death to America and warning of the great firestorm that would be unleashed on the United States if Washington did not kowtow to the Iranian regime.
However, the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran have demonstrated that Iran has very limited power to do significant damage to the United States. Even more importantly, they have shown that Iran has no allies.
No state actors have come, or even offered to come, to Iran’s rescue. Iran’s proxy networks, a primary tool of its foreign policy, have remained relatively inactive.
At the same time, while a number of Western governments and American leftists criticize U.S. actions, Iran is bombing its neighbors. By attacking countries across the Gulf, Tehran is making it even less likely that any of them would enter the war on Iran’s side.
Since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, Iranian counter-attacks have targeted at least ten countries.
Israel has been the target of only about 39 percent of Iran’s missile and drone salvos, with the majority directed at neighboring states hosting U.S. forces.
Hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones have struck locations in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, hitting U.S. military assets as well as civilian infrastructure, including airports, energy facilities, and residential buildings.
Gulf states have condemned the attacks as violations of international law and warned that they reserve the right to respond.
The United Arab Emirates was hit with 165 missiles and 541 drones through March 1 alone, killing three people and wounding 58.
Kuwait was targeted with 97 missiles and 283 drones, with at least three people reported killed.
Bahrain was struck by 45 missiles and nine drones, including attacks on the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Juffair and a drone strike on the Era residential tower in Manama.
Iran also fired 65 ballistic missiles and 12 drones at Qatar, striking the Mesaieed and Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facilities and forcing a halt in LNG production.
Saudi Arabia was targeted in the Riyadh area and the Eastern Province, where Iranian drone strikes caused a fire at the Ras Tanura oil refinery.
Jordan was struck by 13 missiles and 36 drones, while explosions were reported near Erbil International Airport in Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias also independently targeted U.S. assets.
In Oman, two drones hit the port of Duqm despite Muscat’s earlier role as mediator between Washington and Tehran.
The attacks also reached beyond the Gulf. An Iranian drone struck a runway at the United Kingdom’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, causing minor damage.
In Azerbaijan, a drone exploded at Nakhchivan airport on March 5, prompting Baku to summon Iran’s top diplomat and warn of possible retaliation.
Syrian state media also reported a missile explosion in an industrial area of Suwayda that killed four people and injured others.
Iran also declared the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil shipping route, closed.
The strait runs between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and an estimated 20 percent of global petroleum flows through it each year.
Threatening global oil shipments is akin to a threat to every nation on earth, essentially guaranteeing that no one is going to risk their troops to save Iran.
Russia and China, Iran’s two most important diplomatic partners, have condemned the U.S.-Israeli attacks as violations of international law and requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting, but neither has offered military support.
China condemned the killing of Khamenei as a violation of the UN Charter, while Russia described the attack as an “unprovoked act of armed aggression.” Despite the strong rhetoric, neither government has signaled any willingness to intervene directly.
Russia’s position is constrained by both treaty language and strategic priorities.
Although Moscow and Tehran signed a strategic partnership treaty in 2025, expanding cooperation in trade, defense coordination, and regional infrastructure, the agreement contains no mutual defense clause.
Russia had previously supported U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, offering to take enriched uranium from Iran. Analysts say Moscow is unlikely to act militarily given the high risks and its focus on Ukraine-related negotiations.
China’s constraints are structural. Beijing maintains a 25-year cooperation agreement with Tehran and receives the vast majority of Iran’s oil exports, but Iran represents a small share of China’s overall trade, making the relationship asymmetrical.
Chinese policy emphasizes non-interference, and analysts believe Beijing’s role will be limited to diplomacy and mediation aimed at preventing regional instability that could disrupt energy supplies or threaten its broader Middle East economic interests.
Iran’s proxy network has provided little meaningful support. Iran has long maintained allied armed groups across the Middle East as a “forward defence” network, but the military capacity of its two most important proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, has been significantly degraded by the 2023–2025 conflicts.
Hamas condemned the U.S.-Israeli strikes but has not resumed fighting. Israel has closed crossings into Gaza, including for humanitarian workers, but no new combat has broken out there.
Hezbollah also condemned the strikes. The Lebanese government moved quickly to contain the group.
President Joseph Aoun stated on March 1 that “the decision of war and peace rests solely with the Lebanese state,” while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned he would not accept anyone “dragging the country into adventures that threaten its security and unity.”
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem had declared earlier this year that the group would not remain neutral if Israel went to war against Iran.
After Khamenei’s killing, Hezbollah launched a limited rocket attack on Israel.
One analyst described it as “a handful of rockets” aimed at open areas rather than meaningful targets, calling it a mistake that gave Israel an excuse to strike Hezbollah harder. Another described it as “an act of strategic desperation.”
Salam responded by formally declaring all Hezbollah military and security activities illegal, ordering security forces to prevent further attacks from Lebanese territory, directing the Justice Ministry to arrest those responsible, and calling on Hezbollah to hand over its weapons to the state.
The move was the strongest stance against Hezbollah to date and notably gained the support of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a longtime Hezbollah ally and leader of the Amal Movement.
Hezbollah has previously conditioned disarmament on full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and the Lebanese armed forces have moved cautiously toward enforcement given the group’s substantial arsenal and deep support among Shia communities.
The Houthis in Yemen, Iran’s other major proxy, condemned the attack on Iran and had threatened retaliation if Iran were struck, but have not resumed attacks on Red Sea shipping, in contrast to their sustained campaign in support of Hamas from 2023 onward.
So far, six American service members have been killed. Meanwhile, the ayatollah is dead, along with at least 1,000 Iranian soldiers and numerous top IRGC and regime leaders.
An estimated 20 to 30 Iranian naval ships have been sunk, representing most of Iran’s naval fighting capacity, and about 300 missile sites have been destroyed.
The death and destruction Iran threatened to unleash on the United States has not materialized.
Instead, the remnants of the Iranian regime now stand alone against the overwhelming combined force of the United States and Israel.
President Trump has offered a full amnesty to Iranian security personnel, stating, “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or in the alternative, face certain death.”
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