Iran to ‘pound’ Israel in case of another aggression by regime: US analyst
A prominent American theorist and analyst emphasized in an interview that in the 12-day Israeli war against Iran, Tehran inflicted “enormous damage” on Tel Aviv, and in the event of another potential attack, the Islamic Republic, having learned lessons from the aggression in June, would “pound” Israel.
John Mearsheimer said in an interview with German podcaster Max Otte, published by Financial Wise YouTube channel on Monday, that Iran used its cutting-edge missile power in the Israeli war in June and managed to hit the regime “very hard.”
“Iran hit Israel very hard in that exchange in June. There's not much we hear in German in Germany about this and that Israel got hit pretty hard. The fact is Israel suffered enormous damage. And furthermore, by the time the war ended, remember it was a 12-day war, only a 12-day war. By the time the war ended, Israel was running out of defensive missiles that could be used against the incoming Iranian ballistic and cruise missiles. Just very important to understand that. And furthermore, all the evidence is that the Iranians got increasingly sophisticated at using their ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones to penetrate the Israeli defenses,” Mearsheimer said.
“So, I would say to those people who think that Israel won a great victory, Israel's in the driver's seat, and Israel can do this again, and it'll be another great victory, you want to remember that the Iranians have lots of ballistic missiles. They learned a lot from the 12-day war, and they will pound Israel again,” he added.
Mearsheimer said one of the reasons the US administration was so anxious to shut the war down after 12 days was that the Iranians were talking about shutting down the Persian Gulf.
“That sent shivers through the United States, right? The thought of the Persian Gulf being shut down. So, if we go to war, we, meaning the United States and Israel against Iran again, not only is damage likely to be done to Israel, serious damage that is, but also there's a great danger that the straits will be closed and that the Persian Gulf will be shut down and that will have a devastating effect on the international economy.”