Iran is pulling the same trick now, claiming it "won" just because the regime did not fall (yet). This is despite having lost most of their conventional army, navy, and air force, and having also mostly lost control of the straits of Hormuz.

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rcxdude an hour ago | parent [-]

I mean, the Iranian regime has had one goal the whole war: survive. So it is a victory of sorts so far: the US has not achieved its strategic goal of regime change, and Iran has managed to inflict a fair amount of pain in retaliation.

(You could say the Taliban were even more thoroughly 'defeated' in Afghanistan while the country was occupied by the US, but it can hardly be said that it was a victory for the US either, given what happened as soon as they left).

	▲	stale2002 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> I mean, the Iranian regime has had one goal the whole war: survive. No it wasn't. If Iran's only goal is to survive then it would have made peace with the USA and surrounding Middle Eastern territories decades ago. This whole war is happening because Iran had great political ambitions than just thriving on its own. Iran has been funding proxy terrorist groups for a long time now, specifically because it is trying to achieve larger goals than just surviving. And on those fronts, well those proxy groups have taken a ton of damage and aren't long for this world.