'On its last legs': Defence expert Peter Jennings suggests Iranian regime on brink of collapse following US strikes
Defence expert Peter Jennings has claimed the Iranian regime appears "on its last legs" following strike on its nuclear facilities by the United States.
The US launched strikes at Iran's three most important facilities on Sunday, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declaring they were the "final blow" for Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran has since vowed to retaliate, although it is unclear what form this could take given the nation is understood to be severely weakened following a relentless campaign by Israel.
Speaking to Sky News Australia, Mr Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, suggested Tehran was running out of options, with the regime looking increasingly vulnerable.
Commenting on a press conference held by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who claimed Tehran had widespread support from Russia and the Islamic world, the defence expert said Iran had "not got too many places left to go".
"If your best friend in the world is Vladimir Putin, you know you're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of options at this stage," he said.
"I think the support that the Minister claimed he was getting from the Islamic world is token only because in many cases the Islamic world will be only too happy to see that regime fall.
"Really I think what you hear from Minister Abbas is that they've not got too many places left to go. He's talking about retaliation but can't say what it will be, I think largely because their capacity to retaliate has been very, very limited over the last 10 days."
Iran's Foreign Minister was defiant throughout his press conference, attempting to project confidence in the face of the US strikes and consistent Israeli bombings.
His confirmation of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was also a veiled threat of further escalation, although Mr Jennings expressed doubts about the effectiveness of any support from Moscow.
"They're looking to see just how far will Russia, and probably China, go in terms of being prepared to back them in the international community and also with resources - in the case of Russia, like weapons," he said.
"I think Minister Abbas will probably be disappointed. I don't think the Russians are in a position to offer too much support to Iran right now because of their situation in Ukraine."
The increasing isolation of Iran's regime meant Mr Jennings was now looking for a "signal of the end".
"I think they've got less and less options available to them in the international community, you know, the Minister looks like he's kind of isolated, trying to make things happen in Istanbul, while his regime back home looks like it's on its last legs," he said.
"What remains to be seen is whether or not the Iranian people really are as foursquare behind the regime as he claims. I'm not sure that they are.
"So I think a key thing to watch for in the next few days is do we see people on the streets in Tehran? Because that may well be a signal of the end of the regime."
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