The writer, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, is the author of ‘Iran’s Grand Strategy’
Two weeks into the war, Iran’s strategy is coming into sharper focus. It initially set out to absorb American and Israeli strikes while retaliating against Israeli cities and US bases with drones and missiles in an attempt to deplete their stockpiles of interceptors. The long-term plan was to preserve larger and more lethal missiles for the second phase of the war.
But Iran has also deployed a parallel — and potentially more effective — strategy: waging war on the global economy. Iranian missiles and drones attacked oil and natural gas facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE along with oil tankers in the Gulf, and restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, in effect closing it and leading to spikes in oil prices.