New Delhi, Nov. 25 -- When Israeli fighter aircraft dominated the airspace over Tehran, Isfahan, and other major cities, the initial euphoria among many supporters of Iran's Islamic regime faded quickly as Iranian forces struggled amid the ensuing chaos. The central question emerging from the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel is whether Iran's long-standing strategic endgame has now reached its conclusion.

Understanding this requires revisiting Iran's core strategic objective, which has remained largely unchanged since the establishment of the theocratic state. Tehran has long recognised the futility of engaging in direct military confrontation with the West, given the latter's overwhelming superiority. Instead, Iranian strategists...