The U.S.-Israel war on Iran has brought many lessons, foremost among them the shattering of the myth of unchallenged U.S. global might. More than a month into the U.S.-Israeli aggression, neither could the war change the regime in Iran – one of the illusions upon which U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had waged the war – nor did Tehran concede to U.S. terms. Furthermore, on 2 March, Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass. This energy lifeline remained blocked despite Trump’s repeated ultimatums and desperate calls to allies and partners to send forces to reopen it. This resistance was particularly notable as Iran has been under crippling sanctions for decades.
Challenging the myth of U.S. military might
While Iran has suffered significantly, especially due to the assassination of its leadership and the destruction of infrastructure, it also inflicted asymmetric damage. The U.S. sustained considerable personnel, aircraft, and infrastructure losses. Iranian missile and drone strikes, along with accidents, resulted in at least 13 U.S. service members killed and over 3000 wounded. Iran claimed to have conducted high-profile shore-launched cruise missile strikes on the USS Abraham Lincoln, forcing it to change position, and targeted the USS Gerald R. Ford. After U.S. officials offered various explanations, Trump spoke of a carrier being attacked ‘from 17 angles,’ asserting that the ship was ‘in trouble’ and that personnel ‘ran for our lives.’ On 29 March, U.S. officials confirmed that the carrier had entered port in Croatia for damage assessment and repairs, effectively corroborating that it had sustained combat damage.
The U.S.’s prized F‑35 – long marketed as near-invincible – was, for the first time in history, hit and forced to make an emergency landing in the region. In addition, over a dozen MQ‑9 Reaper drones, three F‑15E Strike Eagles in a friendly fire incident, one KC‑135 refueling tanker in a midair collision, high-value radars, and air-defense assets, including an AN/FPS‑132 early warning radar at Al Udeid in Qatar and components of THAAD batteries across the Gulf, were damaged. In the first weeks of the war, estimated US$1.9-2.9 billion in U.S. equipment losses was recorded. Additionally, Iranian missile and drone strikes on U.S. bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan were reported to have caused US$800 million in damages in the first two weeks alone.
Middle Eastern countries increasingly realized that instead of the U.S. military presence being a source of protection for them, it has become the reason for attacks on them.
Iran also punctured Israel’s supposedly invincible layered defenses and air shield, including the Iron Dome. Its cluster-armed missile and drone attacks saturated or bypassed these systems and struck near and in critical sites like Dimona, Arad and the Tel Aviv area, prompting open questions in Israeli and international media about the limits of Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow under sustained, high-volume fire.
The burden on American taxpayers
The war is costing American taxpayers approximately US$0.9-1.5 billion per day, with the first six days alone totaling more than US$11.3 billion. In light of the rising cost of the war, the Trump administration requested supplemental funding of around US$200 billion from Congress to sustain operations and replenish depleted munitions stockpiles.
The wasteful cost comes at a time of persistent socio-economic stress on ordinary Americans: inflation is still running at about 2.4 percent year-on-year, while federal debt is projected to climb to roughly 126 percent of GDP in 2026, with interest payments alone reaching US$1.22 trillion in fiscal year 2025. According to Poverty in the United States: 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau), 10.6 percent of Americans, roughly 36 million people, live below the poverty line, homelessness has risen to a record 770,000, and over 42 million people received food stamps, underscoring how fiscal resources are already stretched.
The U.S. vulnerability to the Israeli lobby
The war also translated the perception that U.S. policies are heavily influenced by the Israel lobby into observable reality. The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, in his resignation letter on 17 March stated that Iran ‘posed no imminent threat to our nation,’ adding that the conflict was launched under pressure from Israel and its American lobby. Joe Kent was a Trump appointee.
Trump let slip that Jared Kushner, his son-in-law who is of Jewish faith, was among the advisers whose warnings led him to believe Iran was about to attack the U.S.. The New York Times detailed Kushner’s and the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, also of Jewish faith, a pro-Israel real estate billionaire and close friend of the president, playing a central role in Trump’s decision rather than feedback from professional diplomats. A superpower’s docility to undue external influence on critical issues of waging a major war reflects its acute vulnerability.
Dangerous religious invocation
Unlike in the past, when U.S. officials covertly used religion, this administration is openly unabashed. Its officials framed the war against Iran in overtly religious terms. Christian nationalist commanders told troops that the conflict was part of a divine plan, an ‘American crusade’ urging soldiers to see themselves as instruments of prophecy. At the Pentagon, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used worship services and Bible readings to depict Iran as one of ‘God’s enemies,’ praying for ‘overwhelming violence’ and invoking Psalms about pursuing and destroying the wicked. Nearly 200 troops and veterans submitted complaints to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and a group of Democratic members of Congress formally requested that the acting Department of Defense Inspector General investigate whether such rhetoric violated church-state separation and professional military norms.
Americans want a change in their own country
Instead of regime change in Iran, the American public has risen up against Trump’s unconstitutional policies. On 28 March 2026, in one of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history, nearly eight million Americans across all fifty states protested against Trump’s increasingly authoritarian and militaristic policies, wars, and domestic crackdowns in what organizers billed as the third and largest ‘No Kings‘ day of action.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran has exposed the limits of the U.S.’s hard power, revealing that even overwhelming military might cannot easily coerce a sanctioned but resilient adversary. The spiraling fiscal costs, the visible influence of the Israel lobby on decision-making, and religious nationalism, along with the unprecedented domestic backlash, show that Washington’s greatest vulnerabilities lie within its own politics.
