Iran Holds Ground

The fragile but holding ceasefire between Iran, Israel, and the United States brings a rare and much-needed moment of relief. After nearly two weeks of relentless strikes that killed hundreds in Iran and scores in Israel, and triggered a barrage of missiles even at a major US base, a lull in violence feels almost unreal.

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Yet, the cost of this calm must not be lost on us, nor how Iran turned the tables on the joint brute force of Israel and the US and fought them to a standstill.

It is now clear that Israel's surprise preemptive strikes on Iran's nuclear and military sites were calculated to cripple Iran's capacity. Instead, they triggered an unprecedented direct exchange that laid bare not only Iran's resilience but also its ability to absorb punishment and respond proportionately, despite crippling sanctions and decades of covert warfare. Iran's decision to calibrate its missile attacks, even when targeting American forces, demonstrated not reckless adventurism but a hard-headed realism to avoid a wider regional inferno.