India, July 5 -- US-Israel strikes damaged Iran's nuclear sites but didn't eliminate its capabilities; Iran remains a nuclear threat due to enriched uranium and halted inspections.

LONDON: Before the ill-judged attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas on 7 October 2023, Iran appeared to be riding high. As an energy-rich but isolated middle power, the Islamic Republic had adopted a strategy of proxy warfare, funding a chain of mostly Shiite proxies from the Levant to Mesopotamia down to the Arabian Peninsula.

These provided a defensive buffer, pestered the US bloc, and allowed Teheran to effectively claim territory where Sunni power faltered, rather like Iraq after America's invasion. As the Arab states more or less abandoned the Pa...