Iran's Leapfrog Military Development: A Different Logic in U.S.-Iran War

Recently, former President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. military is invincible, and that Iran has no warships, no aircraft, and nothing left to fight with—how could they possibly resist? What a headache!

Today, let’s clarify a major misconception: this war is Iran’s ultimate battle after decades of preparation. They voluntarily gave up development of their navy and air force, choosing not to invest actively, thus failing to build combat capability. What the U.S. forces destroyed were merely piles of scrap metal—antique weapons from the Pahlavi era, including F-14 Tomcat fighters.

Instead, Iranians changed the game entirely—they poured all their efforts into developing missiles and drones. Rather than trying to match U.S. military power in aircraft and warships, they skipped ahead to the next generation of warfare, emphasizing leapfrogging and breakthroughs.

If you follow the old path, you’re doomed to fail.

Just look at how ineffective Russian warships have been in fighting Ukraine—this tells you exactly where the focus should be. From this perspective, Iran carefully studied the lessons from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, combined them with its own characteristics, and established today’s strategy: missiles ruling the battlefield, cheap and abundant drones confronting expensive, complex weapons—without falling behind.

This is the result of fundamentally different war logics clashing.

White House Press Secretary Karine Carver said in her latest press briefing that, so far, over 9,000 enemy targets have been struck, and more than 140 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed—including nearly 50 mine-laying ships—the largest-scale attack on Iran’s navy since World War II within just three weeks. The U.S. military is preparing to unleash hell on Iran, delivering even harsher strikes than before.

But they still haven’t grasped the reality.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1860709415887882/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.