A few of the major wars of recent years suggest that the 21st-century doctrines of warfare can offer smaller nations a much greater capability to sustain war against larger militaries.

History of warfare in the last century further supports this point: superior tactics can compensate for an unfavourable force asymmetry.

Iran’s tactics, at least the ones highlighted by OSINT, suggest how the country is fighting a defensive war in this “new era” of warfare.

Multiple parallel command structures, the multi-layer, pre-determined succession plans (up to 4 layers), and localized military commands in all 31 provinces.

The “mosaic defence strategy” as an insurance against depacitations strikes by the U.S. and Israel, the integration of the Chinese BeiDou-3 satellite system, which makes its drones and missiles more resilient to electronic jamming, etc., all point towards a military that has kept up to date with and incorporated lessons from other contemporary wars, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Armenia-Azerbaijan war.

The objective is not necessarily to overwhelm the enemy with sheer force, but to inflict a protracted war and use “attrition economics” to one’s favour— death by a thousand cuts.

To what extent will Iran’s war doctrine help achieve its strategic objectives is something only time can tell.

One thing is quite clear: Iran is, in many ways, defining how wars are fought and sustained in the 21st century, against larger, technologically superior forces, and how a nation can defend itself even against overwhelming odds.