The attacks carried out by the United States and Israel against Iran did not eliminate the country’s ability to project power in the region, said Vitelio Brustolin, professor at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) and Harvard researcher, during an interview with CNN.
According to the expert, although the bombings destroyed a large part of the Iranian navy and the air force was already compromised by sanctions before the conflict, with 610,000 active military personnel and 350,000 reservists.
“The attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran did not end Iran’s ability to project power, which, according to United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, would be the main objective of this war,” Brustolin explained.
Strait of Hormuz as an instrument of power
The researcher highlighted that Iran continues to demonstrate its ability to project power through control of , using relatively cheap weapons such as naval mines, drones and missiles. According to Brustolin, the country has between 2,000 and 6,000 naval mines, equipment that is less expensive than that used by the United States and Israel in the conflict.
The American military presence in the region has been significantly reinforced in recent weeks. “The United States, for example, now has three aircraft carriers in the region. It already had the Abraham Lincoln and the Gerald Ford, which returned from Croatia after receiving repairs, and now the George HW Bush has arrived in the region”, informed the expert, highlighting that such a naval concentration had not been seen since the Iraq War.
Political impact in the USA
Brustolin also analyzed the American political landscape, noting that time is running in favor of the Iranian regime at the moment. According to him, due to the November elections, including supporters of the movement MAGA who criticize him for not fulfilling campaign promises related to peace.
“Trump promised that he would be the president of peace. He campaigned in 2024 saying that Kamala Harris would plunge the United States into a war, that she would lead the United States into a world war”, recalled the researcher, adding that Trump runs the risk of losing support in Congress if he fails to properly manage the conflict.
For the expert, while the US faces democratic and electoral pressures, the Iranian regime, described by him as a “military dictatorship with a theocratic representative”, does not face the same internal constraints, which gives it greater resilience in the current scenario of international tension.
