With the recent Iran War ceasefire agreement, it’s hard to know whether to employ the present tense or past tense. As the war is not officially over (the situation is very precarious), I’ll use the present tense — rather fitting, given how tense we still all are.

War is not a ball game where there’s a clear winner and loser – except in soccer/”football” where a tie can occur. In that case, both teams can be a “winner” (or “loser”) depending on their situation vis-a-vis other clubs. The war in Iran is an excellent example. Who’s winning and losing? As the title above suggests, everyone on both ends. Here’s how and why.

Two preliminary points. First, many specific country “wins” entail a “lose” (or vice versa) for another country or countries, but I will only mention those points once. Second, with so many players involved, for the sake of brevity I will only outline the main point/s for each.

Israel – WIN: 1- At the least, Iran’s nuclear program has been set back several years; 2- The mullah’s regime, already weakened by sanctions and massive protests, is now so weak that it will be very hard to continue funding Hezbollah, Israel’s northern enemy; 3- Israel’s military technology has proven to be highly efficient, providing a further boost to its critical export industry; 4- (See GULF STATES below). LOSE: 1) Israel is steadily losing popularity among the American public, and even more significantly among many American Jews (especially Democrats); 2) Israelis are now even more mentally exhausted from a difficult decade (Covid; Oct. 7 and ensuing 2-year war against Hamas; June 2025 Campaign; the present missile barrage); 3) Heavy economic burden to rebuild destroyed housing and infrastructure; 4) The public is split even more than usual, mainly because of the Haredi (non)draft issue – a deep sore point especially for the hundreds of........

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