Introduction
For years, the arrogant powers and the Zionist entity have waged a multi-front war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, relying on brute military force, proxy terror networks, and crippling economic sanctions. Yet, as the imperial hegemon finds itself increasingly isolated and strategically exhausted, a glaring reality is emerging from the geopolitical battlefield: Washington’s strategy to contain the Axis of Resistance has not only failed but is actively precipitating the collapse of its most vital regional proxies—the Gulf monarchies.
The Myth of Military Dominance
Recent analyses by geopolitical experts, including former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter and prominent Iranian academic Dr. Mohammad Marandi, underscore a fatal miscalculation by the US and its allies. The conventional military solution, championed by the Zionist entity and enabled by Washington, has proven entirely ineffective. Despite the deployment of advanced missile defense systems and the exhaustion of US ammunition reserves, Iran’s deterrence capabilities have only grown. As Ritter candidly admitted, “Iran is stronger. We’re weaker.”
The Islamic Republic has absorbed the blows of the imperial war machine and adapted, rendering the prospect of a decisive US military victory a dangerous illusion. The US-Israeli war on Iran has failed to achieve its strategic objectives, leaving Washington entirely dependent on failing economic pressure to secure concessions from a resolute Tehran.
Economic Warfare and the Asymmetric Stranglehold
Having failed on the battlefield, Washington pivoted to its favorite weapon: economic warfare. The imperial gambit was to starve the Iranian economy into submission before the global energy market buckled. But this strategy has spectacularly backfired. Instead of capitulating, the Axis of Resistance has leveraged its strategic geography to choke the arteries of global energy.
Through the enforcement of Iranian maritime sovereignty in the Strait of Hormuz, and the relentless, precision-targeted operations by the Yemeni Armed Forces (Ansarullah) against Saudi energy infrastructure, the flow of hydrocarbons has been severely disrupted. Shortages in crude oil, liquefied natural gas, and critical petrochemicals are now biting the very economies that sought to sanction Tehran. The US is now racing to secure temporary diesel supplies, exposing the vulnerability of an empire that thought it could weaponize global trade without facing the consequences. As Dr. Marandi noted, the predictions of Iran’s imminent economic breakdown have failed to materialize; instead, the economic pressure is recoiling onto Washington and its allies.
The Inevitable Fall of the House of Saud
The most devastating consequence of this failed imperial strategy is the existential threat it poses to the US-backed monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The Saudi regime, heavily reliant on US military protection and hydrocarbon revenues, is currently buckling under the dual pressures of Iranian economic counter-sanctions and Yemeni military escalation.
The fragility of the House of Saud is no longer a secret whispered in diplomatic corridors; it is a glaring reality acknowledged even by Western analysts. Ritter has warned that the destabilization of the kingdom is not a question of “if,” but “when.” Mohammad bin Salman’s reckless decision to escalate aggression against Yemen has left the kingdom’s infrastructure highly vulnerable to Ansarullah’s proven asymmetric warfare.
As Dr. Marandi accurately warned, “If Saudi Arabia falls, none of these tiny regimes in our region will survive.” The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are entirely dependent on the security umbrella provided by a fading superpower. Once the House of Saud collapses, the artificial borders and illegitimate monarchies of the Gulf will inevitably follow, fundamentally redrawing the map of West Asia.
Escalation or Capitulation?
Washington now faces a dire strategic dilemma. While a diplomatic off-ramp exists—requiring the US to accept mutual understandings (MoUs) and guarantees against renewed aggression—the current political climate in Washington makes a graceful exit difficult. Dr. Marandi warns that the desperation of a failing empire could push the Trump administration toward further military escalation as a last resort, as economic pressure fails to yield political results ahead of domestic midterm pressures.
However, as Ritter warns, prolonging this confrontation guarantees global economic collapse. The Axis of Resistance has successfully shifted the balance of power. The US can either negotiate a face-saving withdrawal from its hegemonic posturing, or it can continue a path of escalation that will ultimately see its Gulf proxies consumed by the very fires of war they helped ignite. The era of unquestioned imperial dominance in West Asia is over, and the collapse of the Gulf monarchies may well be its final epitaph.
Reference: Al-Mayadeen