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How Iran won the war

A woman waves the Iranian flag at Valiasr Square in Tehran, Iran, on June 15, 2026. | Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images The US and Iran have a new peace agreement — and lots of unresolved questions about Iran’s nuclear program, the future status of the Strait of Hormuz, and whether Israel’s war in Lebanon could still scuttle things. But one thing is clear: The war has transformed Iran and remade the balance of power in the Middle East. “Rather than breaking Iran, the crucible of war has transformed it in unanticipated ways,” Iran experts Narges Bajoghli and Vali Nasr wrote recently fo...