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Analysis: Iran war exposes limits of US power in Middle East
In an analysis published by The Intercept, Juan Cole argues that two failed U.S. wars with Iran have produced the most dramatic American retreat from the Middle East since Vietnam. The article says Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed major U.S. bases and left Washington unwilling to intervene on Saudi Arabia’s behalf in Yemen.
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According to the analysis, Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan. It says the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama was destroyed and the al-Udeid air base in Qatar was rendered inoperable, while U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq. The article also says Iran’s use of Shahed drones depleted U.S. and Israeli interceptor stocks, making any new intervention in Yemen riskier.
The analysis links the U.S. retreat to the renewed Saudi-Yemen conflict. It says Saudi Arabia struck Sanaa airport in July 2026 to block an Ansarullah delegation returning from a funeral in Iran, and that Ansarullah later briefly closed a Saudi airport with missile and drone attacks. Pakistan, Türkiye, and Egypt have pledged to defend Saudi Arabia, it says, but the United States has declined to join the war.
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