For months, analysts have debated whether President Donald Trump’s campaign against Iran was working.
Tehran’s propaganda has tried to turn high oil prices and slow negotiations into evidence of US weakness.
The reality is less flattering for the regime and its military, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps: Trump has forced them into a prolonged cold-hot war that drains their finances, strains their regional network and strips away their leverage.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has moved back toward pre-war levels — and Iran’s domestic deterioration is increasingly difficult to dismiss.
Iran’s rial fell to roughly 2.2 million to the dollar in September, from about 958,000 a year earlier.
Inflation is nearing 70%, food prices have more than doubled, and unemployment is above 9%.
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