The Sixth-Generation Battlefield: US, Iran, Israel, and China

After Israel’s intelligence-driven campaign inside Iran exposed major vulnerabilities, China moved quietly to strengthen Tehran through cyber, military, and strategic backing. The conflict is fast becoming a testing ground for next-generation hybrid warfare.

In their latest attack on Iran, Israel and the US have killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s army chief of staff, General Abdol Rahim Mousavi, and Defence Minister General Aziz Nasirzadeh. They have also killed Major General Mohammad Pakpour (the Revolutionary Guard’s top commander since the murder of his predecessor by Israel last June) and Ali Shamkhani, a top security adviser to Khamenei. Reports are coming in that Israel showed pictures of Khamenei’s dead body to Trump, which was only possible due to Mossad agents being physically present at the site of the strike.

This sets a new normal in modern-day warfare whereby intelligence acts as a precedent to kinetic warfare. As Iran lies completely in the Chinese sphere of influence and is highly significant for its energy imports, China’s involvement in the Iranian war against the US and Israel becomes inevitable, though indirect. Through effective measures, Beijing has assisted Iran in creating an alternative network to try and hinder Israeli attempts against its sovereignty.

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” (Sun Tzu – The Art of War)

Mossad’s Structural Penetration in Iran

Iran’s intelligence failure in last year’s 12-Day War against Israel depends more on the internal security compulsions than external interventions. This war not only provided ample opportunity for the US and Israel to assess Iran’s internal situation, but it also became a testing ground for China to prepare itself for the evolving nature of future warfare. Mossad exploited major structural weaknesses of Iran to plot its entire war plan, which are given below:

1. Domestic Recruitment

The ultimate aim of Israel in Iran is regime change by eliminating the senior leadership of the Islamic Republic, which is evidenced by their actions on the 28th of February 2026. Since their ultimate aim is to destabilise Iran and change the regime, they need boots on the ground. What Mossad is doing inside Iran is recruiting anti-regime dissidents as an alternative to its direct agents. This provides Israel with two major advantages: simultaneously launching proxy boots inside Iran and challenging the........

© New Eastern Outlook