Recently, Mohammad-Bagher Kalibaf, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and close to the regime (he is currently the Speaker of the Parliament), gave a speech to the Revolutionary Guards soldiers in Mashhad in which he repeatedly told the world that Iran is not afraid.
He encouraged the gathered IRGC soldiers not to fear Israel's technological superiority. But in reality, Kalibaf's words revealed the very thing that he was trying to hide horror and fear. The regime is very nervous about what Israel will do to them, despite the reports of secret meetings between American and Iranian officials to agree on what targets Israel can respond to.
Hezbollah and Hamas are beyond a doubt strategically weakened, and this calls into question the entire strategy of Iran, which uses its proxies to deter their enemies.
Iran has reached the limit of the sophistication of its missile project, and its Russian air defense systems offer no real protection, as became clear after Israel's airstrikes on Friday. Any announcement of a nuclear attack by Iran will, of course, be met with devastating Israeli airstrikes that could incite and bring anti-regime demonstrators to the streets of Iranian cities.