IDF says Iran military set back years but warns regime may be more radical and seek nuclear weapons

The IDF said it has devoted substantial efforts to creating conditions that could enable anti-regime demonstrations to grow, though it acknowledged there is no clear indication those efforts will succeed.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli military officials said Thursday that extensive Israeli and US strikes have significantly degraded Iran’s military capabilities, but cautioned that the conflict could still end with a more extreme Islamic regime seeking nuclear weapons, the Jerusalem Post reports.

According to IDF sources, the campaign has included more than 10,000 Israeli strikes alongside at least 8,000 carried out by the United States.

The operations initially targeted senior Iranian leadership, air defense systems, and ballistic missile assets before expanding to include internal security institutions.

Later phases of the campaign focused on dismantling command centers and forces tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij, Interior Ministry, and Intelligence Ministry, which officials described as key components of the regime’s ability to suppress opposition.

Military sources said the cumulative effect of the strikes has “set back years” of Iranian military development across nearly all sectors.

Despite that assessment, officials said it remains unclear whether the scale of the campaign will translate into internal political change.

They said there is uncertainty over whether the sustained strikes will lead enough Iranian protesters to mobilize in a way that could bring down the regime.

The IDF said it has devoted substantial efforts to creating conditions that could enable anti-regime demonstrations to grow, though it acknowledged there is no clear indication those efforts will succeed.

At the same time, officials warned that the end of the conflict could produce unintended consequences.

Among the scenarios under consideration, they said, is the possibility that the war concludes with an Islamic leadership in Tehran that is more hardline and more intent on pursuing nuclear weapons than before.

The sources stressed that this assessment reflects a range of possible outcomes rather than a forecast, as the situation remains fluid at this stage of the conflict.

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