A senior Iranian lawmaker says Iran has upended U.S. President Donald Trump’s assumption that any confrontation with Tehran could be contained, arguing that Washington now fears a wider regional war it can no longer control, according to comments published by Hamshahri Online citing an interview with Tasnim news agency.
Rasoul Bakhshi Dastjerdi, a member of parliament from Isfahan, said Iran’s use of asymmetric warfare has exposed the limits of America’s expensive military hardware and forced Washington and Israel to halt recent offensives without achieving their objectives. He argued that Iran’s “agile” forces have managed to “stop the obese American war machine” and demonstrate that U.S.-style high-tech arsenals no longer guarantee battlefield dominance.
Bakhshi Dastjerdi said the United States, backing Israel, joined an assault on Iran in the summer of 2026 but was compelled to accept a ceasefire after 12 days of heavy exchanges because it failed to meet its strategic goals while Israel came under intense fire. Seven months later, he added, a second, more extensive surprise campaign lasted 40 days but again ended in what he described as a forced retreat by U.S. and Israeli forces.
According to the MP, these rounds of fighting revealed that aircraft carriers have become “expensive targets” and that costly missile-defense systems such as Patriot and THAAD do not deliver results commensurate with their price when confronted by swarms of attack drones and high‑speed missiles. He claimed the United States has “already been defeated” and now dreads triggering an even larger conflict that might further erode its credibility, yet at the same time struggles to acknowledge that it has lost.
Bakhshi Dastjerdi asserted that Trump originally banked on a “controlled war,” but Iran’s response shattered that calculation and introduced new uncertainties into U.S. planning. He warned that, despite recent clashes, the region has not yet seen a “real” all‑out war, noting that the strategic Bab al‑Mandeb Strait remains open and Yemen has not fully entered the confrontation.
The MP said this latent escalation potential is a major source of anxiety for Washington, which fears a closure of Bab al‑Mandeb could severely disrupt global trade and inflict serious damage on the economies of the United States and its allies. He described Iran’s long‑sanctioned military as a force that has “humiliated” America by halting its advance despite more than four decades of economic pressure.
Bakhshi Dastjerdi accused Trump of responding to this “humiliation” with contradictory and confused rhetoric aimed at unsettling Iranian decision‑makers and creating an opening for a new, more successful surprise attack. However, he insisted that the Islamic Republic will continue what he called a path of wisdom, remain on full alert and deliver a “very crushing” response to any further aggression.
The lawmaker concluded that the United States “has definitely been defeated” in its recent confrontation with Iran and warned that the longer Washington delays in accepting this reality, the higher the eventual cost it will pay.