How Iran Won the War – Now What?

Studying one’s enemy has been a common tactic since the Iranians used it to battle the Greeks twenty-five centuries ago. To beat Iran today, we need to learn how they beat us.  

Iran has declared victory against Israel and the United States. In Israel, we went from fighting Iran to fighting JD Vance. In Washington, Donald Trump was beaten so senseless, he now thinks he’s  Barack Obama.  

This was the first war since 1948 where the entire nation of Israel was on the battlefield. There isn’t a single person in Israel who hasn’t heard their phone go off, rushed into a bomb shelter, heard the sirens outside their window, then the silence, and then the explosions.  

Israel was on the right side. We stood for justice. We were protecting each other and the rest of the world.  

This defeat is brutal.  

Now, Israel must ask the tough question: How did Iran win?  

The Battle of the Amorites 

When God commanded Moshe to fight Og and the Amorites, Moshe was worried.  

Moshe wasn’t concerned that the Amorites had tightly fortified cities. Our Sages tell us¹ that the city walls were so high, thick, and well-designed that they required almost no human military power to hold off an enemy. Even the weakest, smallest creature—like an ant—standing at the defense line would be safer than an entire army exposed in the open wilderness. Moshe wasn’t concerned that they had the fiercest army in the region such that every other nation paid them for protection. Nor was he concerned that Og was a massive giant who could lift mountains.  

Moshe knew that wars, like everything else in God’s world, were spiritual. Hashem decides the outcome before the first shot is fired.  

Og had the merit of a mitzvah that Moshe couldn’t perform.  

Four hundred years earlier, Og and Lot were captured in the Battle of the Five Kings versus Four Kings². Og escaped and told Avraham that his nephew Lot had been captured. Avraham launched an attack of his own, defeating the four kings, and rescuing Lot.  

Og’s merit of helping one of our forefathers is what Moshe feared. According to Rashi³, Hashem assured him that since Og tried to kill all of Avraham’s descendants, he lost all his merit. Og therefore, no longer  had Divine favor.  

That’s when Moshe gave the order to attack.  

Does Iran have Merits?  

Do we ever ask ourselves if Iran had this type of merit? Is Iran doing things that Israel isn’t? Should we be concerned about this, just like Moshe was? 

1. Iran takes their worst citizens who commit abominations before God morning, day, and night, and removes them from society by any means necessary. We make them ministers, put them in charge of our legislature, and allow them to celebrate their abominations in parades down main streets of eretz Yisrael.  
2. Iran has laws on its books demanding that women act modestly. Despite the demonic brutality with which they enforce these laws, the fact is that every day, tens of millions of Iranian women dress modestly in public.  
3. Religious leaders in Iran are treated as first-class citizens. They are given special privileges and protections not afforded to anyone else. Iranians studying Shiite Islam are granted military exemptions while they are studying.  

Bottom line, Iranians possess a fierce, unwavering faith. They are willing to face total global isolation and destruction by their enemies rather than abandon their beliefs—a faith we might describe as ‘dark side emunah.’ 

Ironically, unwavering faith is supposed to be our defining trait. When reciting the Shema, a Jew is meant to embrace this exact level of commitment: a total willingness to die in the service of Hashem. This level of commitment brings tremendous merit to am Yisrael. 

Discovering the Potential of the Divine Fight 

Without an air force, navy, or cyberforce, Iran defeated the American and Israeli militaries, the two most powerful militaries on the planet. Iran sustained 10,000 attacks on its country in the last war³. Nonetheless, Iran’s most powerful enemy, the United States, is on its hands and knees begging Iran to negotiate a settlement.  

To defeat Iran, we must rise to their level of commitment. They are willing to die for their religious beliefs. Israel must be willing to commit to its Truth with the same fierce intensity.  

We must accept that the world will cut us off if we ban sodomy, demand modesty, and place our Torah scholars at the head of our country.  

We must realize that the world will boycott us if we annex Yesha (Yehuda, Shomron, Gaza), South Lebanon, and parts of Syria.  

This level of commitment requires passionate emuna. It requires the faith that Hashem will grant His nation victory no matter what we think we see in front of our eyes.  

We have been fighting with soldiers, technology, and logistics for the past three years . . . and none of our enemies have been defeated.  

It’s time to fight with the only weapon we know will win a conclusive victory: Hashem’s blessings.  

To do that, we must fight alone, with nothing but our belief in Hashem. We stand alone with God, or we die in His arms.  

Editor’s Notes 

¹ Midrash Devarim Rabbah 1:23 

² Bereishit (Genesis), Chapter 14 

³ Rashi on Bamidbar (Numbers) 21:34 

⁴ Wikipedia, 2026 Iran War

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, 60,000 passionate Israelis, and Matilda, our local camel.