The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was the culmination of a very bad year for the United States Iranian regime.
The Islamic Republic received painful blows in Gaza and Lebanon Syria, Reducing the strength of the so-called axis of resistance. Its currency officially became the least valuable in the world and when Israel has destroyed its proxy forcesThe United States elected a president so despised by Iran that it spent years trying to assassinate him.
Here is a look at the blows suffered by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his regime over the past year:
The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was the culmination of a very bad year for the Iranian regime. (Office of Iran's Supreme Leader via AP, file)
April: A counterattack on Israel fails to do any damage
In April, Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria, prompting Iran to respond with more than 300 drones and missiles directed at Israel. But Israel worked with the United States, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to shoot down almost all of the missiles and drones.
May: The president dies in a helicopter crash
The late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash while visiting a remote area. Iran attributed the accident to dense fog. Raisi was a protégé and potential successor to Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei.
July: Execution of a senior Hamas leader
While Iran inaugurated a new president this summer, Israel infiltrated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during his visit to Tehran for the inauguration ceremony. While Haniyeh was staying at a government VIP guesthouse, Israel detonated a remote-controlled bomb.
October: Hamas leader and architect of the October 7 attack was killed
It took out the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar After meeting him during a routine patrol in the city of Rafah in Gaza. Sinwar was the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and was one of the most wanted men in the war.
Hamas has lost thousands of fighters and much of its leadership to Israeli attacks, and is no longer anywhere near the threatening force on Israel's borders that Iran had hoped it would be.
The Israeli occupation forces arrested Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after confronting him during a routine patrol in the city of Rafah in Gaza. (AP)
November: Trump elected
The Iranian currency fell to its lowest levels ever after news of Trump's election, and expectations that he may restore the “maximum pressure” policy.
The Iranian rial has fallen by 46% this year, officially making it the world's least valuable currency.
Iran has long vowed to retaliate for Trump's approval of the 2019 killing of General Qasem Soleimani – and US intelligence revealed Tehran's plans to kill the president-elect.
after Trump administration After withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear agreement in 2018, it imposed harsh sanctions on the regime to stop its funding of agents abroad, and banned American citizens from trading with Iran or dealing with Iranian funds.
It also punished entities in other countries that did business with Iran by cutting them off from the dollar.
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President Joe Biden Iran has often waived the application of such sanctions, due to its keenness to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons, and its fear of raising global oil prices.
The Iranian currency fell to its lowest levels ever after news of Trump's election, and expectations that he may restore the “maximum pressure” policy. (AP Photo)
Iran obtained more than $10 billion through A Ministry of Foreign Affairs The waiver of sanctions allowed Iraq to continue buying energy from Iran, which the Biden administration says is necessary to keep the lights on in Baghdad.
November: Hezbollah signs a ceasefire with Israel
In the fall, Israel redirected much of its efforts toward striking Hezbollah after a series of cross-border attacks by the Lebanese armed group. Israel targeted Hezbollah's leadership and blew up hundreds of pagers the group was using to communicate. At the end of November, Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire under which it and Israel must end their armed presence in southern Lebanon.
Both sides claimed the other violated the fragile, but ostensibly holding, truce for weeks.
December: The fall of Assad
Syrian rebels sent the Iranian Quds Force, an extension of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, running as they seized Damascus and ousted President Bashar al-Assad. Iranian forces have been present in Syria to support Assad since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, but have diminished since the outbreak of war elsewhere in the Middle East.
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The new Syrian government is scheduled to be run by Sunni Muslims, hostile to the Shiite government in Iran. And Iran The main supply line was lost It was used through Syria to arm Hezbollah in its war against Israel.
