It is tempting to attribute this to the strategic incompetence that has been demonstrated by the Trump administration. Despite having had many months to plan and prepare for this war, Donald Trump and his team have been taken by surprise by the ability of the Iranian regime not just to survive but also to hit back against American military assets and Arab allies and to restrict the flow of oil out of the famously narrow Strait of Hormuz.
mandag 23. mars 2026
Even a ‘superpower’ is nowhere near as powerful as it looks
Yet again, the US-Israel war against Iran is showing that even a so-called superpower is nowhere near as powerful as it looks. Although we will all suffer the political and economic effects of this war for many months and years to come, we humbler powers in Europe should find this renewed proof quite reassuring. With the important exception of nuclear weapons, the gap between what a superpower can achieve and what humbler, so-called “middle powers” can do is a lot smaller than it seems.
It is tempting to attribute this to the strategic incompetence that has been demonstrated by the Trump administration. Despite having had many months to plan and prepare for this war, Donald Trump and his team have been taken by surprise by the ability of the Iranian regime not just to survive but also to hit back against American military assets and Arab allies and to restrict the flow of oil out of the famously narrow Strait of Hormuz.
It is tempting to attribute this to the strategic incompetence that has been demonstrated by the Trump administration. Despite having had many months to plan and prepare for this war, Donald Trump and his team have been taken by surprise by the ability of the Iranian regime not just to survive but also to hit back against American military assets and Arab allies and to restrict the flow of oil out of the famously narrow Strait of Hormuz.