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The conclusion that Iran is a great power follows immediately from the fact that this is a strategic defeat for the US. This is the test that has always counted in the entire history of Western statecraft. Debating this test is just special pleading.
“If the United States cannot forcibly retake Hormuz, that would constitute an unambiguous strategic defeat for the United States and a clear victory for Iran. … The ground truth is revealed on the battlefield. This is how this question of great powers has been understood not just by modern scholars but by statesmen acting in the entire history of the European balance of power since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.”
This is a provocative piece from Policy Tensor suggesting that Iran should now be considered a Great Power for handing the United States and Israel a strategic defeat in this war. Most of the piece is paywalled, but I did want to make a few comments on the broader significance of the war, especially now that Trump is about to have his "Mission Accomp…