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Iran Has Been Abandoned. Here's Why.

Simon Whistler · June 19, 2025 · 15 min video · Middle East

Duration 14:40
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From the transcript

Here's how Iran's defence against Israel was supposed to work. All across the Middle East, year after year after year, Iranists and weapons, funding and visors and more to a wide range of non-state actors with one shared enemy.

From the mass organisation in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon to Yemen's Houthi rebels and more, all of Iran's allies were supposed to be so well armed, so formidable and so downright unpredictable that if Iran itself were ever attacked, they would leap to the Ay atollah's defence and devastate Iran's mortal enemies.

But right now, Iran is coming up on a week of continuous fighting with Israel and Iran is decisively on the losing side. The nation has landed some hits of its own, but its military leadership has been decapitated its air defences are non-existent and its people are at Israel's mercy.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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About this briefing

Iran’s proxy empire is crumbling. As war with Israel escalates, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are silent—or shattered. Here’s why Iran’s decades-long strategy just collapsed when it mattered most. Love content? Check out Simon's other YouTube Channels: Megaprojects:https://www.youtube.com/@megaprojects9649 SideProjects: https://www.youtube.com/@Sideprojects Into The Shadows: https://www.youtube.com/@IntotheShadows Today I Found Out: https://www.youtube.com/@TodayIFoundOut Brain Blaze: https://www.youtube.com/@brainblaze6526 Casual Criminalist: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCasualCriminalist Decoding the Unknown: https://www.youtube.com/@decodingtheunknown2373 Places: https://www.youtube.com/@Places302 Celestium: https://www.youtube.com/@astrographics-ve4yq PoliticalFronts: http://www.youtube.com/@homefronts Simon's Social Media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimonWhistler Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonwhistler/ 00:00 Introduction 01:08 Laying the Groundwork 04:58 Recent Devastation 08:08 Sitting on the Sidelines 10:40 A Failure of Strategy

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