Initiative may be slipping away from US and Israel as Middle East crisis deepens

There is little sign of imminent regime change in Iran as its blockade of strait of Hormuz shocks global economy Few doubt that in the first days of the new war in the Middle East, the initiative belonged to the US and its ally Israel. Now it seems less sure, however. Mohsen Rezaee, a senior officer in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, on Sunday said “the end of the war is in our hands” and called for the withdrawal of Washington’s forces from the Gulf and compensation for all damage caused by the assault. Three weeks ago, it appeared unlikely that Tehran’s senior officials would ever sound quite so confident. The conflict began with a surprise strike by Israel that killed the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. US and Israeli warplanes then swiftly proved they could operate with impunity over Iran, drawing on deep reserves of intelligence to strike at thousands of targets. The only significant losses were inflicted by friendly fire. Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles and drones launched at Israel that were largely intercepted by Israel’s air defence systems. So far, 12 people have been killed in Israel by attacks by Iran. The toll is still substantially lower than in the much