1. One of US states, in fact, the most important one, is well within our reach, Israel.
2.Even against weak Ukraine with limited air defense, Russia doesn't dare to use it's strategic bombers. just stand off cruise missiles from their own soil.
3.Lots of energy infrastructures within middle east belongs to US companies, two strategic water ways is under our control, all of these means collapse of US economy.
4. Iran will activate it's proxy forces and US forces within thousands of kilometers will come under daily attacks, with no effective support.
5. US will loose all of it's nay within our range, while their entire navy around the world can be attacked by submarines, and I assure you there will be countries who will help un on that (for their own good).
All of these means deterrence.
Let's face it, we often assume that wars are fought with high-tech weapons all the time, but this is not always the case. For instance, let's consider a scenario where Iran destroys US military bases in the Middle East and blocks all trade routes, pushing the US Navy back to 1500 or 2000 km behind Iranian waters. In such situations, we must be realistic: Iran may not be able to destroy the entire US Navy in one big blow.
A war doesn't just break out overnight. Usually, it announces itself somehow, and especially if the US is planning a surprise attack, they would have already put their assets at a distance and have restructured the air force bases so that minimal damage occurs. Additionally, military bases would have been largely emptied in anticipation of the attack. It is essential to note that the enemy is not a static punching bag that does not move; in combat, the opponent also moves and calculates.
If Iran carries out a surprise attack on the US at a time when the US does not expect an attack, then maximum damage would undoubtedly be possible. However, in any case, a war means that both sides will be hurt, and both sides will have to take it. It is sometimes assumed that Iran is an impenetrable fortress where every fly is caught in the air. However, the US will also find gaps.
Even if the US takes its long-range bombers, they can still only act to a limited extent and cannot win a war on their own. Ultimately, modern weapons can be used up very quickly, and a phase will occur where factors such as motivation, morale of the troops, the number of recruits, and willingness to sacrifice become crucial.
It is essential to remember that we live in a time when all the modern weapons are only weapons of the first hour, unless kept as a strategic reserve until the end. For example, did you know that an Abrahams tank can take several months to a year to produce? Similarly, the German Panther, which is now brand new, is a device that is handmade for industrial conditions. An F-35 takes 24 to 36 months from order to delivery, and other weapon systems take similar periods.
If the hypothetical war between Iran and the US is not ended quickly, and the most valuable units are used up, it will depend on entirely different factors. The war will be fought on a completely different level, and it may be necessary to fall back on quickly producible, readily available, and cheap mass systems. Iran is treading this path alongside its high-tech projects, such as mass drones, a large number of speedboats, and possibly future combat robots and Basiji units, where 20 million can be mobilized.
It is like a chess game, with different phases: the opening, the middlegame, and the Endgame. At each stage of the game/war, different resources, units, tactics, and strategies are required.
In the opening you usually try to quickly control the center and create a good starting position for the middlegame.
You can also play the opening defensively to provoke the opponent to attack prematurely, etc. In the middlegame it is about the achieved position from the opening and to exploit the advantage you have gained, or to make up for losses. You try to break through the front and act on a tactical level and launch attacks.
In the endgame you usually have lost most of the resources and there are a few pawns, usually also heavy pieces like the tower left, maybe a knight left. The field is then very open and offers plenty of room for maneuvering. At each stage of the game / war, different resources, units and tactics as well as strategies are required.
Therefore, it is crucial to analyze which phase of the war you are in and what means to use. When the opening phase is over, and all modern weapons have been fired, only limited quantities remain, and one can no longer be generous with the quantities.
Consequently, the following factors are essential: the morality of the population, the morale of the troops, who has the advantages of terrain and weather on their side, who has the better generals, who is able to sustain logistics?