Since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on Feb. 28, the Trump administration claims to have all but "obliterated" the Islamic Republic's military capabilities. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared last week that “never in recorded history has a nation’s military been so quickly and so effectively neutralized.”
But after more than a month of punishing U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, a degraded Iranian military nonetheless remains a stubborn foe. Its steady stream of strikes against Israel and Gulf Arab neighbors are causing regional chaos and an outsized economic and political shock.
