London: Iran currently has the upper hand in its ongoing conflict with the United States, former MI6 boss Alex Younger claimed.
Younger said that while he regrets making these remarks, given the violence and brutality of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC) that several MI6 officers faced, the US did “underestimate the task”, he told The Economist, as reported by Mint.
In his view, Washington lost the initiative to Tehran almost two weeks ago, Younger said.
The former intelligence boss elaborated further, saying that the Islamic Republic regime has been more resilient than anyone would have expected.
The country took some “good decisions” as early as last June, when they dispersed military capabilities and delegated the authority for the use of those weapons, which has given them significant extra resilience against the airstrikes launched by the US and Israel.
The Islamic Republic has embarked on what Younger called “horizontal escalation”. This means that Iran is launching rockets at anyone within range. This move is now putting a direct price on the US, he added.
He shed light on h
ow Tehran has understood the importance of the energy war, saying that they have held the Straits at threat and have somehow globalised the conflict, which has provided them with some weapons. The Islamic Republic has played the illusion of having a “weak hand” pretty well, Younger suggested.
According to Younger, another reason behind Tehran’s having the upper hand is certain remarks made by US president Donald Trump.
These remarks confirmed what the Islamic Republic knew already, which is that the country is in a civilisational war or a war of existence, he said.
Trump made it very clear that he wants to see them up “against the wall”. On the other hand, Washington has embarked on a war of choice, the intelligence chief said. The fact that Tehran is fighting for its existence has imbued it with more staying power than the US, he added.
His remarks have shed crucial light on how the conflict has panned out in West Asia. Strikes by the US and Israel has killed several top leaders of Iran, including the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Despite this, the country continues to fight on, while Trump is now looking for ways to get out of the conflict.
Trump announced a pause in the fighting, citing “very good and productive talks” with Tehran, a claim which the Islamic Republic has denied.
Now, Iran has made certain demands which will be extremely difficult for the US to fulfil. It has demanded the withdrawal of troops from all Gulf nations and ownership of the Strait of Hormuz.