Eight months into the war with Iran, has the US achieved its goals?
On 28 February the United States and Israel launched hundreds of strikes across Iran, in the middle of nuclear talks. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, and his son Mojtaba Khamenei was named to succeed him. Nuclear sites including Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan were hit. Iran answered with missiles and drones against Israel, US bases and Gulf states, and choked the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil passes.
A ceasefire in April and the Islamabad Memorandum in June - brokered by Pakistan with Qatar and Oman - briefly lifted the US naval blockade of Iran's ports and reopened the strait. It did not hold. By the autumn fighting had resumed and the blockade was back.
Where things stand this week
The heavy fighting stopped weeks ago, but there is no ceasefire in force. The US blockade of Iranian ports continues; Iran says tankers keep hitting mines, and on 5 November it declared Hormuz closed to ships that do not coordinate with Tehran.
Talks are indirect, through Qatar and Pakistan. Iran's conditions: lift the blockade, repeal sanctions, guarantee no more strikes, and a ceasefire across the region, including Lebanon. Washington wants a verifiable commitment that Iran will not rebuild its nuclear programme, which Vice President Vance says the US has already destroyed.
Brent crude peaked at $116 a barrel on 23 October and fell to about $95 after the US midterms, in which Democrats won both houses of Congress. Senate leader Chuck Schumer says the war "must end"; President Trump says he would do it again.
Iran says more than 3,500 people have been killed there. US, Israeli and Gulf forces have also taken losses, and the war has caused the biggest disruption to the world's oil supply on record.
The US and Israel went in to end Iran's path to a nuclear weapon and break its missile and military power - and some in Washington spoke of a change of government. Iran's aims were to survive with its system intact, use Hormuz as leverage, and come out with sanctions lifted and a guarantee of no further attacks. Eight months on, who has achieved what they set out to do - the US, Iran, or neither?
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Opinions (2)
Iran couldn't be overrun like USA has imagines. It did managed hike the world energy prices putting pressure of US, also military actions are in stalement to say the best. US allies faced heavy destruction from Iran drones and ballestic missiles which again damaged it's reputation of a net security provider in the region