The Iran Paradox: Why the US and Israel Avoid an All-Out Military Offensive

Smoke rises after a series of explosions in Tehran, Iran on March 01, 2026.

If Iran is one of the United States’ and Israel’s most persistent geopolitical adversaries, a simple question follows: why has the Western playbook of overwhelming infrastructure destruction (“shock and awe”) not materialized in Iran? In wars involving Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, the early stages of military campaigns targeted power grids, telecommunications, transportation networks, and water […]