It is clear that the Iran-backed Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, were a blunder of epic proportions for the Islamic regime. Many of history’s great military disasters center on a major tactical error. The Romans at the Battle of Cannae and Napoleon’s invasion of Russia failed spectacularly because leadership underestimated a presumably inferior opponent. Heavy Persian losses at Thermopylae were due to Greek defenders employing both the terrain and their own training as force multipliers. The Iranians may not have made such an egregious tactical error, but the results are likely to be no less devastating.
The most obvious modern parallel is the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. The goal of the Japanese was to destroy America’s Pacific fleet and discourage, or at least delay, U.S. involvement in WWII. Obviously, this backfired immediately, and public opinion swayed dramatically against isolationism. Imperial Japan never predicted the overwhelming capacity of American manufacturing, or the fact that the once-decimated Pacific fleet would, by 1942, be capable of winning decisive victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. Japan never regained its status as a major imperial power, but its citizens do enjoy living under a constitution written by the United States.
The Battle of Stalingrad, a major turning point in the European theater, broke the aura of German invincibility. The Nazis had marched across much of mainland Europe with ease but suffered immense casualties at the hands of the Soviet Union. Similarly, Iranian actions after Oct. 7 broke the myth of a grand military alliance between Iran, the Russians, and the Chinese. As the Islamic regime appears to be on its last legs, Russia and China have done effectively nothing to aid their so-called ally. The French defeat at the hands of Henry V’s greatly outnumbered army at the Battle of Agincourt was due largely to the French miscalculating the efficacy and range of English archers. Surely, the Islamic regime did not think its military tech was on par with that of Israel or the U.S., but few knew just how effective Western arms and intelligence could be if given a clear, achievable mission.
Every decision made by recently assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after Oct. 7 was more disastrous than the last. Iran’s terrorist proxies fell one by one, starting with the utter destruction of Hamas in the Gaza war. Iran’s ally, Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria, fell in 2024, and now the Lebanese government has banned the Iranian proxy Hezbollah from performing military operations. Knowing this almost certainly means civil war, Lebanon likely sees the impending collapse of the Iranian regime as the perfect time to rid the country of the terrorist group. In an attempt to hit the Gulf States hard enough that they would pressure the Trump administration into ending the war, Iran attacked Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman, along with Israel and various U.S. military bases in the region.
Instead of panicking, Mohammad bin Salman and the rest of the Arab leaders have stood firm on their opposition to the regime. Qatar hit a target in Iran Tuesday night, and the Saudis will reportedly be joining the fight “soon.” The United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Greece have all sent considerable assets to the Mediterranean after a Hezbollah strike on the British Akrotiri base in Cyprus, despite Europe generally wanting nothing to do with the conflict.
OPERATION EPIC FURY WAS PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH IN ACTION
The Islamic regime’s insistence on supporting terrorism and subsequent blunders have left it leaderless and isolated. It galvanized an international coalition of America, Israel, Sunni Arab states, and reluctant Europeans into action, and will likely end the regime’s 47-year reign.
It is hard to imagine a way in which Oct. 7 could have backfired on Iran more spectacularly. George Custer’s hubris at the Battle of the Little Bighorn had nothing on the Iranian mullahs.