By South China Morning Post | Created at 2026-08-20 05:32:01 | Updated at 2026-08-20 05:37:55
39 minutes ago
Six months into its war with the United States, Iran’s military has begun signalling a shift from retaliation to offence, which analysts say could reflect Tehran’s belief it holds leverage to advance its demands and break the stalemate.
Since US-Israeli strikes launched the war on February 28, Tehran has largely portrayed its strikes against the US, Israel and Gulf countries as revenge for attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Now, Iranian officials are openly talking about giving offensive operations a greater priority while keeping control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key source of leverage against Washington that has disrupted a vital global energy route and driven up energy prices.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei outlined that approach in a reshuffle of top military commanders earlier this month, calling for “strengthening maximum deterrence and preparing to conduct large-scale offensive operations against the enemy”.
Last week, a deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards indicated that Tehran was revising its military doctrine to give “offensive operations” strategic priority.
Analyst Sina Toossi of the Centre for International Policy believed the shift to offensive operations does not mean Tehran was “adopting a doctrine of preventive war”.
Rather, he said, Tehran appears to have concluded that “if confrontation becomes unavoidable, Iran should escalate earlier and more forcefully rather than wait for the United States or Israel to define the terms of the conflict”.
