Iran is the new big boy in Town: Trump's endless assaults on Iran have woken the lion in the Islamic Republic.

For a long time, Iran has been perceived as this "trod-on and go" kind of state. Under the composed stewardship of slain leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for over 35 years, Israel and The United States have been  ocassionally conducting degrading attacks against the Islamic Republic. These include the slaying of significant figures in Iran's top military command. Notable examples in this regard include:

* The assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 in a strike near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, ordered by U.S president Donald Trump. Soleimani commanded the IRGC's Quds force and was widely considered the second most powerful figure in Iran(after the Supreme Leader).

* The Damascus Consulate Strike(April,2024): A precision Isreali airstrike struck an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, killing seven IRGC military advisers. Among the dead was Brigadier General Mohammed Reza Zahedi and five other ranking officials.

*The embarrassing assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas in Tehran on July 3, 2024 in an operation for which Israel claimed responsibility after the operation.

*The dramatic fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 who was the only real political ally of Iran among the  Arab States.

To all these attacks, Iran's main response was a strong warning to crash their enemy. For every embarrassing assassination, the slain old Khamenei would come out and in his frail voice, warn Israel of a crashing response if its aggressions did not stop. However, with each threat, Israel carried out an even more painful and degrading attack on Iran.

Yes, there were times when Iran responded to some of these attacks but not on a scale that would scare an enemy away. For example, in 2020, after the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Iran launched "Operation Soleimani". The IRGC launched "Operation Matyr Soleimani", where they launched over 12 ballistic missiles at the Al-Asad Airbase in Al-Ahbar Governorate, Western Iraq, as well as another base in Erbil. However, reports indicated that no American soldier was killed. 

In April 2024, Iran launched its first ever direct military attack on Israel territory, firing more than 300 drones and missiles codenamed, "Operation True Promise". True Promise was Iran's retaliation for suspected Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria earlier that month. Working in coordination with the U.S, the United Kingdom, France and Jordan, Isreal intercepted roughly 99% of the in coming threats.Many projectile were reportedly shot down before they ever crossed into Isreali airspace. This was followed by "True Promise II" in October, 2024 as a direct retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan.

The Devil in Iran shows glimpses of existence.

Signs of existence of a lion in Iran started showing in October 2024 when Iran  launched what is known as the biggest missile barrage on Israel with approximately 200 missiles and uncountable drones in what came to be known as the biggest missile attack on any country in world history. This came after Israel's brutal assassination of longtime Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah in the  September of that year.

In all its modern existence and especially after the 1967 Yowm Kipur war(where Israel defeated Arab allied forces in just six days) , "God chosen Israel" and the whole world had never witnessed such a blatant assault on its "God-given" territory. For over 60 years, Israel had built a fear factor around itslef. Over the  time, it has managed to instill fear in all its neighboring countries that any attack on its territory may lead to the demise of the attacking country or the loss of land to the  mighty Israel. This fear is justified however, given the string of crushing responses Israel has given to its enemies over the course of eighty years.

The Devil in Iran is Unleashed

Given its past success in undermining Iran's image as a powerful country in the Middle Eastern region, Israel grew even longer wings. In June 2025, Israel launched "Operation Raising Lion" on Iran. This is when the world started to witness the wavering of the Iranians' patience. Iran responded to Israel's Raising Lion by launching a combination of drones and ballistic missile attacks against Israeli military targets including the Nevatim Airbase, Dimona Nuclear Research centre and various population centres. In the intense hours leading up to a U.S brokered ceasefire, Iranian forces launched a major missile attack on populated areas in Be'er Sheba resulting in severe casualties and infrastructure damage.

With Isreal suffering more humiliation as the war advanced and running low on interceptor missiles, their guardian angel Donald Trump ran to their rescue by quickly brokering a ceasefire between the 2 warring parties after only 12 days of war!

The devil in Iran is fully awakened

There is an African saying that goes, "the higher a monkey climbs a tree, the more it exposes its private parts". 

The quick announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran after the 12 day war was infact a startegy to help the Israelis to reboot and brace for a fresh round of attacks on the Islamic Republic.

Trump invades Venezuela in January and in a very smart operation that  lasts only six hours, successfully changes the regime there. The toppling of Nicholas Maduro was such a walk over that it  motivated Trump to invade Iran and do the same thing over there.

Benjamin Netanyahu ( the Israeli prime minister) is also known for his egocentric nature.  Given his earlier humiliation in June 2025, he felt that he had to return to Iran and launch face saving attacks on the country and hopefully completely destroy it or its regime and save Israel from any future himiliations. 

Netanyahu's ego coupled with Trump's misleading success in Venezuela saw the launch of "Operation Epic Fury" on Iran. 

The first day of the violent attacks saw the assassination of long time Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with long serving military officers in Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps. This was a strategy meant to swiftly weaken Iran's armed forces and eventually bring down the Islamic Republic as well.

Alas! What the world witnessed in Iran's response was nothing like anyone has ever imagined. With the U.S continued violation of peace talks, Iran's patience reached a limit. Read more of Trump's repeated violations of peace talks here:

 https://amwaldah.blogspot.com/2026/05/trump-is-too-arrogant-to-make-deal-with.html

Depsite the loss of almost all their top command, the Iranians fought back with a vengeance of 47 years of sanctions and humiliation. 

The reverse of what Netanyahu and Trump hoped to achieve in their latest assualt is what they received instead. 

First, the Iranian regime did not collapse. Rather than lead to the desired regime change, joint U.S and Israel operation on Iran inadvertently radicalized the Islamic Republic, solidifying control under the IRGC aligned inner circle.

To add salt to injury, Iran responded to the Epic Fury by launching its own "True Promise IV". Iran conducted the asymetric war strategy by escalating the conflict and spreading it across the Middle East region. Iran targeted U.S interests across the region. However, instead of solely attacking U.S military bases, Iran launched retaliatory strikes on the physical and economic infrastructure of Gulf States to force a quick de-escalation of attacks on its territory. Targeted sites  include Jebel Ali Airport in the UAE, Qatar's energy facilities at Ras Laffan and key energy installations in Saudi Arabia. Such a response was never expected from Iran. In one of his interviews about the war, U.S president Donald Trump admitted that no American war strategist ever imagined Iran hitting the Gulf States. "We were shocked!" Trump exclaimed.

According to Iran's foreign minister , Abbas Aragchi, the assassinated Supreme leader was the only reason behind Iran's image as somewhat a docile state. Hence, his demise would open a whole new chapter for the Iranians that the Israelis and American wouldn't like. Indeed, we are currently witnessing a new Iran!

Besides hitting the gulf States hard, Iran went ahead, acted on its promise and closed the strait of Hormus. The strait of Hormus is a narrow strategic waterway that borders Iran's coastal towns. 40% of global shipping is done through this waterway. During its "True Promise iv", Iran effectively closed off 40% of global shipping, a move that has hiked oil, gas and fertilizer prices in many parts of the world. With all the United States' military might, it has up to now, failed to force the reopening of the strategic water way. For every military move that the U.S tries to conduct in the strait, it receives a swift and harsh response from the IRGC which always gets the U.S forces to hold back from any attempted violation.

Until now, no ship can make it through the strait of Hormus without  the permission of Iran, even with the pretentious presence of U.S aircraft carriers around Iran's ports intended to intimidate Iran into not using what's remaining of their naval  power.

With Trump failing to achieve his goals militarily and opting to go back to "the table", the Iranians have successfully managed to steer the core issues of contention from giving up their enriched uranium to roepening the starit of Hormus and now, to ending Israel's aggression on Lebanon. 

Recently, Netanyahu had ordered his forces to match towards Beirut , the capital of Lebanon and destroy it, claiming to be targeting Hezbollah targets there. In an unprecedented move, Iran's military forces warned that if Israel went ahead with their plans of bombing Beirut, they would smash Israel's northern settlements too. To show their seriousness, they went ahead and issued evacuation orders for Israeli residents in the north of the country to avoid losing their lives in the imminent missile attacks. On realisation that the Iranians were indeed serious, Trump quickly called Netanyahu, requested him to scale back and quickly announced that a ceasefire had been agreed between Israel and "Hezbollah". (Note that Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist group by the United States of America).

Just recently, Iran conducted  retaliatory ballistic missiles and drone strikes against Kuwait, largely targeting U.S military installations and infrastructure within the country, such as Camp Bueheing and AlinSalem Airbase. In the same attacks, an Iranian drone and missile attack targeted Kuwait International airport hitting Terminal. The strike killed one civilian and injured over 60 people. Following the attack, Kuwait temporarily suspended some commercial flights. This was in relation of a U.S attack on Iran's Port City, Qeshm Island.

As I write this article, on the evening of 7th of June, Iran is conducting a missile attack on Israel as eralier promised if Israel went ahead with its threats of bombing Lebanon's capital Beirut. Isreal has attacked Beirut and unlike before when Iran issued empty warnings, this time it has acted and is hitting Israel hard. Unprecedented. 

Since the ceasefire between the U.S and Israel  was declared over 40 days ago, there has been a number of skirmishes between the U.S and Iran.

One does not need to go to school to realize that a fundamental change is underway in the middle East order, if not the global order at large. The Iranians have openly declared that the United States' era of "hit and run" has come to an end. For every attack that the U.S launches against Iran, Iran fiercely hits back by hitting U.S military installations across the Middle East.

Since when did any country ever sustain tit for tat attacks with the U.S for over 40 days? Ounce for ounce? Blow for blow? Since when did any country in the world ever dare to militarily confront the "God-chosen" Isreal over its endless military adventures?

Operation Epic Fury that was intended to crush the core existence of the Islamic Revolution in Iran instead erased the old guard of the system and ushered in a new breed of leaders who are obviously more radical, defiant and more fearless.

Other than Israel's pretentious accusations of Iran being a violent and terrorist country, Iran has been generally, a rather peaceful country despite its open support for some freedom fighting groups in the Middle Eastern region. It now looks like the era for that passive attitude is over. Iran now responds to a slightest attack on its territory regardless of what country launches it or where it is launched from.

Before the Trump administration in conjunction with their main war ally Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on their unrelenting pursuit of the destruction of the Iranian state, the Iranians were very willing to negotiate with the U.S for the sake of peace in the Middle Eastern region and de escalation of tensions in the region. Now, after their duel with the U.S, it looks like Iran is no longer interested in having talks with the world "super power". This is evidenced in Iran's continuous shifting of contentious issues of discussion from its enriched uranium to the the re opening of the starit of Hormus and now to the end of Israel's assualt on Lebanon.

The old passive Iran is evidently gone. For a country that has endured suffreing for over 47 years that is, harsh sanctions against its economy, U.S and Isreal sponsored internal unrests that undermine the country's security and stability, the assassination of its most powerful and influential military and political leaders, Iran is left with no option but to vigorously fight for its survival. After facing it all, threats, sanctions , assassinations, wars, the Iranians seem to be innoculated against any future aggressions against them. 

The new Iran seems to be more violent, more aggressive and immune to the brutal acts of U.S hegemony and its endlessess pursuit of dominance.

Netanyahu and Trump's military adventures woke the sleeping lion. For whatever reason Israel named one of its assaults on Iran, "The Raising lion", indeed the lion has rosen.

"Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion and lift up himself as an young lion". (Numbers 23:24)

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us welcome the new lion in the den and it is none other than the Islamic Republic of Iran!