An Iran Torn Between Iranny And Irony

President Trump’s most recent example of “Peace through strength” showed the world the true meaning of this epitome, by exposing the strong: Israel; and the very weak. Iran has long been feigning to have a “capable military”, a propaganda-salva which began erupting since the Operation Guardian of the Wall. On June 13th, 2025, Operation Rising Lion completely proved the Iranians wrong, ending the Iranian war-posturing myth. A pre-emeptive operation that resulted in an obliterative Midnight Hammer.

A laser-focused mission

President Trump kept His promise. On over 50 occasions, including the maximum pressure campaign, the US President has promised that Iran would not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. Iran had proven irresponsible during his two-month ultimatum, and thus found out. Common sense decision: Midnight Hammer.

The B2 elements Air and Fire were the last-resort swords-medicine in a devastating double operation without boots on the ground’s traditional mode of battle. This was a top-down strategic approach, a superior-to-inferior paradigm that led to a yawning chasm in the Iranian system.

The war was not conducted in one night or two, but in a 12-day rolling campaign that was inaugurated by a rising lion in the middle of the night and ended by a sharp midnight hammer. The decisive two-night war inflicted a severe cumulative damage to Iran, in two very successful Operations.

Following Operation Midnight Hammer, the United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, in a joint press conference with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, that President Trump “directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history, and it was a resounding success, resulting in a ceasefire agreement and the end of the 12-day war” in Iran. “Because of decisive military action, President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating – choose your word – obliterating, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”

This bold and precise-target strategy generated dilemmas tous azimuts and insurmountable paranoia due to a profound infiltration, coupled with a severe damage to the nuclear facilities along with the elimination of the people behind the mess. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that Israel had achieved its war goals and thus agreed the ceasefire that President Trump declared on June 24th.

Iran, for its part, reacted weakly to the IDF and displayed a ridiculous behavior in Qatar. Rather, it opted for heedless rocket launches on civilians and for violation of the ceasefire terms by launching missiles after the ceasefire start time, which prompted Israel to order retaliatory strikes before the truce finally held. This reckless behavior demonstrated not only Iran’s weak posture but also its lack of (post-)war-ethical behavior proving the moral collapse of the regime. Conversely, Israel acted on balanced ethos, avoiding widespread environmental consequences and painstakingly considering ecological ramifications.

More importantly, the war demonstrated a serious Iranian lack of strategy and preparation for such situations, particularly for a country whose entire propaganda strategy was centered on threatening a far stronger nation: Israel. On the other hand, it proved that Israel had long been prepared for such circumstances with an eagle-eye laser-focused precision, a country that was not in a hurry to use its military means but showed steadfast resolve in the face of unheeded warnings.

The multifarious war (military, cognitive and psychological warfare strategies) revealed a substantial level of access as a result of intelligence situational assessments and ongoing readiness and continued preparedness. Since the beginning, Israel has quickly achieved air quality-edge superiority in Iranian airspace. What was Iran’s achievement? Zilch.

While some would say that Iran gained the regime’s continuation, in truth, the United States and Israel’s intentions were all but regime change. Their laser-focused operations did not broaden the campaign in ways that would derail from the fundamental strategic objective: preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. President Trump said the strikes aimed only to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment activities. Whereas the new equation might trigger the regime collapse, future developments will be heavily guided by the evolution of the internal situation.

On the second and last night, the United States’ Operation Midnight Hammer declared a major Shalom to Iran’s insurance baby: the nuclear capabilities. Iran dismally sought an exit strategy to ensure its regime survival, little had it known of its own limitations. If Iran had truly been a Middle Eastern power as it claimed for decades, it would have exited the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and disrupted the Hormuz strait, a dead threat-letter.

Iran didn’t because it started the battle in a vulnerable position. Furthermore, they couldn’t go to war, not only due to the lack of capabilities and preparation, but also because they are well-aware of the fact the prolongation of the conflict would have resulted in social instability, including feminist-led full-scale uprisings that might conjure up the Masha Amini powerful legend. Iran lacked the capabilities to engage in war with Israel. Rather, it has waged war against its own people. The decision to lead the two operations at night – Iranian time- is very symbolic: it represents the conflict between the forces of light and the feeble forces of darkness, beyond the klippot.

A War that ended before it Started

In one night stent operation dubbed Rising Lion, Israel completely destroyed the Iranian system from within, by eliminating its key malevolent assets, in a strategic encirclement, including senior military leadership. Key targets: the chief of staff, IRGC commander, the commander of IRGC’s Aerospace Force and other intel-chiefs and operations divisions. Furthermore, Israel targeted the Iranian propaganda at its core: the Iranian television. In the meantime, Khameni kept posting few posts on X to save face.

In fact, Israel targeted the malevolent actors behind the nuclear infrastructures before turning their attention to the backbones of the facilities themselves; Arak, Bonab, Parchin, Tehran. Natanz and Esfahan were doubly hit in the two massive operations.

Additionally, Israeli waves of strikes have hit Iran’s vital infrastructure: command centers, missile and air defense systems, IRGC’s intelligence networks, and several vital energy installations. The Aleppo Codex inspired Operation was successful on all fronts.

Gutted through, the Iranian regime suffered a serious blow, in a first military gesture startlingly tied with a humiliating pretty-bow that forced Khameni to go into hiding indefinitely after years of waffle speeches laced with theoretical threats. Khameni’s surrender is a repetitive pattern. In 1988, he agreed to a ceasefire with Iraq, likening it to “drinking the chalice of poison.” Against this backdrop, he was widely trolled on X platform, including by the platform’s very successful owner Elon Musk. A new form of online vox-populi communication that combines irony, humor and allegories.

Indeed, his stance pushed China and other “friends” to abandon him in times of need. Although China vehemently denounced the recent strikes, using, UN business as (un-)usual talking points, “condemns, calls on, stands ready,” it did not provide Iran with any tangible assistance. This means that the world has never been and won’t become a multipolar arena. The first and last word are the leader’s: the United States of America.

Senior Iranian official Moshsen Rezayi even went further by saying that Iran “may engage in a battle with a coalition, haven’t revealed its unknown weapons yet”. Yet, behind China’s wording lies a constant categorization of the “Iranian partner”: partnership in times of peace, abandon in times of war. President Trump’s bold vision Peace Through Strength exposed the Iranian weaknesses. In the frame of this vision, the world has clearly seen that neither China is a protector for Iran, nor Iran itself is a strong power as it has long pretended to be. For Iran, China was the missing protector.

Symbolism-wise, President Trump wanted to “Make Symbols Great Again”, focusing on symbols that were once mis-seen as exclusive to certain groups. Following the Rainbow imagery at the Daytona 500’s “show” of force sequence, Operation Midnight Hammer; symbolizing Power, Strength and Action-Oriented goodwill Labour, has put, for its part, an end to symbols appropriation by communist (f-)actors. It refreshed memories of the past cold-war and the continued US “triumph after triumph” capability.

Peace Through Strength for burgeoning Abraham Accords

PM Netanyahu praised President Trump’s leadership which “has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace”, following the very successful US strikes on Iran nuclear facilities, which “completely and totally obliterated” their capabilities. “President Trump and I often say peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace (…) President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength”, he stated.

Israel should capitalize on the emerging opportunities following its very successful achievements, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s third visit to Washington DC to celebrate the massively obliterative Rising Lion- Midnight Hammer teamwork outcome for history books and establish a new era for Peace Through Strength Diplomatic Doctrine, where countries will enjoy genuine peace.

Israel is in a comfortable position of satisfaction as it provided, with the United States, an effective response to the nuclear threat, and thus should be proud of its successful achievements, its strength, resilience and sense of togetherness.

In the end of the night, war’s endgame is not war-in-cycles. It is peace. The ceasefire should be unlimited, it wasn’t a forever war. However, and beyond a potential future deal that would anchor its operational successes, Israel will keep in mind the likelihood of a long-term conflict with Iran -should it renew its nuclear ambitions- until a new Iran commits to genuine regional peace.

The word Strength in Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” diplomatic lexicon does not mean war. Rather, it embodies a comprehensive understanding of a an innovative vision that combines the lethal and the diplomatic in what could become: a lethal diplomacy. This encompasses the kinetic, the deceptive and the unpredictable for a most predictable outcome: Peacemaker&Unifier Trump.

For instance, some had argued that killing Soleimani would precipitate WWIII, while others had warned before the war that an Israeli-Iranian confrontation would result in a new world war. And a third category stated that WWIII was completed in 12 days. Neither of these was accurate. Peace Through Strength’s bold vision brought an end to the battle before it even began. The first two narratives helped the Iranian regime to continue its dirty labour, while being increasingly regarded as immune to deterrence in the wake of the international community inaction, interpreted as strategic paralysis. Another factor, was totally cultural; Iran’s sympathizers in the Middle East believe in the show of force as an established-discipline and consider the military credible threat as a weakness, until it is really transformed into a concrete military credible action. In this regard, they have long thought that Iran cannot be defeated, was untouchable. They chose Iran because they thought Iran was strong enough to protect them or to harm them. Iran itself dismissed the continued think-tank warnings until it faced the real tanks music. Israel’s bold operational successes will serve as a motivation to join the club of “the real strong”, which will allow expanded Abraham Accords.