Military analyst and former Pentagon expert David Pine has described the war with Iran as a «total catastrophe» for the United States and Israel. Writing on his X social media page, he urged people not to take at face value the claims by US officials that Tehran has been «practically crushed».

Pine was commenting on recent statements by US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who had hailed the military campaign against Iran as a success. He questioned how those assessments could be true if Iran had managed to shut down almost all electricity in Tel-Aviv, and argued that this alone contradicts the official narrative. He warned his audience not to believe what he called the constant stream of military propaganda and maintained that the war has turned into a complete disaster for the United States, Israel and their Middle Eastern allies.

On 6 March, Trump said that Washington would be able to reach an agreement with Iran only in the event of its full capitulation. The US president’s administration later clarified that he himself would decide when, in their view, Iran no longer poses a threat. Trump also stated that the US operation against Iran would continue «for as long as it takes».