Mark Halperin

All the reporting out there suggests from the Israeli side, the American side, that even though the top level was eliminated,

The Ayatollah's son has taken over, did his first statement, although it was a written statement, and some believe he's still incapacitated.

But nonetheless, no signs of protests on the street, no people defecting, no reporting of a coup amongst some leaders, no divisions within the government.

And obviously, even though command and control has been diminished without a doubt,

The Iranians still have a lot of capacity to fire missiles, to deal with their allies in their network of terror, to put up the drones, to close the Strait of Hormuz.

So that's a massive problem for the United States, in part because obviously it allows Iran to fight back, but also because for some people, even though the president's been back and forth on this, certainly for the Israelis, this needs to end with regime change.

And so if we're going up against a regime that's not moving out of the way, that's a problem.

Another advantage for the Iranians that has been on vivid display is they have what are called asymmetrical advantages, right?

For instance, you go back to the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's say the United States starts getting some ships through.

They create the circumstances with insurance and with protection and the diminishment of the Iranian threat.

You get a couple ships through.

Let's say you get 50 ships through.

And then the 51st ship is destroyed by the Iranians or attacked effectively by the Iranians.

That's a big problem.

That's a big problem.

They don't need to have a majority hit.

They just need one.

Related to both these issues is the age of the drone.

This is the first war like this besides Ukraine-Russia, first that the United States is directly involved in, where drones are just front and center.