JUST WAIT UNTIL TRUMP RESTORES SANCTIONS: Iran in a ‘position of unprecedented weakness’ after the fall of Assad in Syria.

Syria was Iran’s corridor for delivering logistical and armed support to the Lebanese group Hezbollah and to Hamas in Gaza, which helped ensure the security of Axis of Resistance powers while allowing Iran to exercise its influence – and deterrent capabilities – far from its own borders. “Syria represented a springboard for the Iranian regime to project its influence as far as the Mediterranean, and that has disappeared,” notes Jonathan Piron, a historian and Iran specialist at the Etopia research centre in Brussels.

“The Axis of Resistance as we knew it no longer exists,” he says. “With the Israeli operation in Lebanon, Hezbollah is no more. Its capacity for action has been significantly diminished, in any case. Now, Assad’s Syria no longer exists, either. The main pillars of the Axis of Resistance have disappeared. What is left? The Houthis [in Yemen], but they have their own agenda and are far from Tehran. And the Iraqi militias, which have refused to intervene in recent days on Syrian soil to come to the aid of Bashar al-Assad.”

The destruction of the Axis of Resistance is a direct consequence of the Hamas-led attacks of October 7 and Israel’s subsequent offensive, says David Rigoulet-Roze, associate research fellow and Middle East expert at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.

Reminder: Iran’s defeat was made possible by Bibi Netanyahu ignoring Biden’s “Don’t!” instructions.