Iran's missile attack on Israel on the 14th became the hottest international news topic this week. The three parties involved, Iran, the United States and Israel, all said they had succeeded. Iran successfully launched a large number of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones, hitting two Israeli military bases. Israel said it had carried out a successful interception with U.S. support, and that 99 percent of Iranian missiles were said to have been stopped. The United States said that the conflict between the two countries has ended here and has not continued to expand, which is a victory for US diplomatic mediation. As the saying goes, "there is no first in literature, there is no second in martial arts", and a war cannot end in victory for all parties. If we analyze the specific course of the battle and external influences, we can find that the criteria for measuring the victory of these three sides are different, and this is why the strange situation of "three wins" has emerged. However, if we look at it from a broader perspective, of course, Iran won, and the United States will lose the most.
We can start by analyzing Israel's gains and losses. This time, Israel used two types of means to intercept Iran's attack. The first is the anti-missile weapon system deployed on the mainland, as well as the US anti-missile warships deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, which are mainly used to intercept ballistic missiles. The second is the F-35 fighter jet, which is mainly used to intercept cruise missiles and suicide drones, a task that is also assisted by the Jordanian Air Force, which Iran is extremely unhappy about. The course of the interception operation shows that both Israel's "David Sling" and "Arrow-3" and the US Standard 2 and Standard 3 missiles can intercept ballistic missiles. Moreover, the interception success rate is very high, which effectively reduces the strike effect of Iranian missiles. As for suicide drones such as the Witness 136, they were intercepted by F-35 and Iron Dome missiles in large numbers, and basically did not achieve results. It proves that the anti-missile systems of the United States and Israel are technically successful. At present, there are reports that Iran used hypersonic missiles to strike Israeli air bases, and the US-Israel anti-missile system did not respond. There is not enough information to make a judgment on this. But war is about cost. If the attacking side invests very few resources, and the defending side expends a lot of resources to hold on, then the attacking side can also be considered to have won. The Iranian attack has put this cost issue in front of the people.
Iran is an oil-exporting country, and although it has been sanctioned by the United States for many years, it still has financial resources, at least more abundant than Israel. In particular, in the more than 30 years since the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran has not encountered a large-scale full-scale war, and its national economy has recuperated. After recovering from the war, Iran was able to spend a lot of money on the development of the military industry, mass production and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition. The hundreds of munitions that were put into the attack this time were a drop in the bucket for Iran. Israel is more troublesome. Iron Dome, David Sling, Arrow 3 missiles, one is more expensive than the other. It was reported that on April 14, Israel lost $1.33 billion overnight, including the consumption of missile weapons and the cost of F-35 fighter jets. For a small country with a population of less than 10 million, the impact on Israel's finances of burning so much money in a matter of hours is not insignificant. Some have commented that the total cost of Israel's F-35 fleet procurement is only $3 billion. The consumption of the interception operation, which is equivalent to half of the F-35 destroyed. If Iran does this a few more times, Israel's finances will vomit blood.
I am afraid that the United States is even more uneasy. This time, the United States used the Standard 3 missile for the first time, and it is said that it has achieved three successful interceptions. While the total missile consumption was not disclosed, the purchase price of the Standard 3 missile reached $11 million. Even if only three were launched, three shots and three hits, it would be more than $30 million to consume. Considering the cost of deployment of the naval fleet, the United States is also equivalent to being shot down an advanced fighter jet. This is still the price of being a supporting role. If Iran attacks again and Israel runs out of ammunition and food, the cost will be even more considerable.
The reason for this embarrassing situation is directly related to the fact that the United States and Israel have gone astray in army building. Since the United States achieved its first ballistic missile defense in the Gulf War, it has given top priority to "not being beaten." However, modern air defense and anti-missile operations are very expensive, and if the interceptor missile itself is regarded as an attack target, and the consumption of Israel's military resources is regarded as the purpose of war, then it can be regarded as a complete victory for Iran. In the face of an adversary with a massive missile attack capability, the best way is to strike at each other and destroy the opponent's missile production capacity, existing reserves, and launch capabilities. But such an approach would lead to the expansion of the war and bring about a total political defeat for the United States. Moreover, Iran's missile facilities have long been turned into depots and underground, and the United States and Israel may not be able to win an offensive war.
Therefore, Iran's war not only hit Israel, but also tried to show the United States. The side facing the US threat can completely consider lowering the performance of its missiles, lowering their prices, and raising their quantities, so as to defeat the United States until it runs out of ammunition and food in a short period of time. Then use high-performance missiles to carry out precision assaults. The United States, which has no bullets in the chamber of the gun, is a toothless tiger and cannot engage in hegemonism.