Did China win the war between the US and Israel against Iran? There is one condition
If the goal was to prevent Iran from shooting either Israel or U.S. allies in the region, although Iran's capabilities have been limited, the goal has not been achieved.
Donald TrumpJIM WATSON/AFP/East News
Perhaps the greatest political loss, however, was inflicted by the United States itself, without Iran's involvement. Contrary to what people who use the most primitive logic claim, according to which only military power counts in international politics, the strongest weapons in international politics and diplomacy are credibility and predictability.
The United States, meanwhile, has just proven that it is neither reliable nor predictable. In the eyes of the allies in the Persian Gulf, who have repeatedly appealed for the US not to start a war, the US has become a source of instability and the gravediggers of a development model based on the image of the countries in the region as an oasis of peace, built over years.
In the eyes of Europe, Japan and South Korea, which saw that the Americans were ready to start a war and then demonstrate total war désintéressement its effects, The USA, in turn, has become a partner that does not care about its economic development.
A key question for Xi Jinping
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet at an Air Force base in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2025.YONHAP / PAP
In 1956, Great Britain, together with France and Israel, intervened in Egypt. Even though Egypt lost the war militarily, it won it politically. Great Britain, due to the fact that the United States not only did not provide help to London, Paris and Tel Aviv, but even said a clear “no” to them, had to say goodbye to its superpower status for good.
To say that today we are dealing with the twilight of the American empire would, of course, be premature and exaggerated. At the same time, however, if credibility and predictability are the most valuable currency in international politics, the US has lost this currency.
Will this mean the beginning of the so-called exchanges with China is a question that cannot be answered for now. Firstly, because the US, like no other country in the world, is able to first make all possible mistakes and then draw conclusions from them.
Secondly, we do not know what conclusions Chinese President Xi Jinping will draw from the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Whether Xi decides that a victory parade in the capital of Taiwan will give him more prestige, or whether subsequent delegations from around the world, looking for a source of stability in Beijing, will pay tribute to him, depends on whether the world will continue to descend into chaos, or, on the contrary, in a new era of stability.
As the Cold War teaches, there is nothing more stable than a bipolar world.
