Iran’s Leverage Surges As U.S. and Israeli Aggression Backfires
What was meant to destabilize Iran instead united its people and expanded its global influence
Three weeks into the latest U.S. and Israeli assault across the region, the outcome looks nothing like what Washington and Tel Aviv promised. They set out to weaken Iran, isolate it, and shake its internal foundations. They believed that by hitting Iranian allies, tightening pressure, and fueling regional chaos, they could trigger instability inside Iran itself. The goal was straightforward: regime change and the breakup of Iran into smaller sectarian states. They wanted ordinary Iranians to feel so strained and insecure that they would turn against their government.
She rejects Iran’s government but still defends her country when it’s attacked. Even with a U.S. immigration case underway, she’s willing to face the consequences to stand with her nation.
But the West completely misread the country and the Iranian people.
Instead of collapse, Iran saw unity. Instead of internal revolt, millions of Iranians have taken to the streets every night in enormous marches across the country. These are not small gatherings. They are massive, city‑wide demonstrations of solidarity with the government. Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Qom, Kerman, and dozens of smaller cities have seen crowds filling every major avenue. People who disagree on almost everything else are standing together because they refuse to let foreign powers dictate their future. The West expected fragmentation. What it received was a population uniting.
And while this internal unity was building, Iran’s external leverage was rising just as fast. American political scientist Robert Pape summed it up clearly: Iran is not weakened. It is more powerful than before. The facts make that impossible to deny.
Iran now holds real influence over global oil prices. Every escalation by the U.S. or Israel sends markets into panic, and every signal from Tehran steadies or shakes the global energy system. This is not symbolic influence. It is structural power that affects every country dependent on imported energy.
At the same time, sanctions that were supposed to suffocate Iran have quietly eroded. Oil is moving again. Buyers who once obeyed Washington’s restrictions are now stepping around them because they cannot afford an energy crisis. In just a few weeks, Iran has sold roughly 1.5 billion dollars’ worth of oil. This profile does not resemble a state under duress. It is the profile of a state capitalizing on the chaos its adversaries created.
And then there is the global food system. With influence over nearly a third of the world’s fertilizer production, Iran now has indirect leverage over global food prices. Oil and food, the two foundations of global stability, are now tied to Tehran’s decisions more than Washington’s.
This is the strategic reality the U.S. and Israel created for themselves. They launched strikes believing Iran would retreat. They believed instability would turn the Iranian public against its own government. Instead, the public united, the economy gained breathing room, and Iran’s global relevance expanded.
Pape captured it clearly:
“That’s the kind of power states escalate to protect.”
And now there is another layer that the West did not anticipate. Iran is not only winning the power struggle. It is winning the global narrative. Across the world, people who once viewed Iran through Western talking points are seeing a different picture: a country under attack that refuses to break, a population that refuses to be manipulated, and a state that has turned pressure into leverage. From the Middle East to Latin America to parts of Europe and Africa, public sentiment has shifted. Iran is gaining sympathy, respect, and moral credibility in places where Washington once dominated the story.
The West wanted regime change. What it produced was national unity, economic resilience, and a stronger geopolitical hand for Iran. The balance of power in the region has shifted, and the world is adjusting to that shift, whether Washington and Tel Aviv admit it or not.