Iran's greatest shield should've been a modern air force and IADS along with large number of drones and missiles to enable asymmetric warfare, not a tin-pot blood thirsty dictator that escaped after 11 days and receiving tens of billions of dollars from us.
US and israel have modern airforce and still havent won any serious war in over 20 years ,so no, air forces are flashy and do short term damage but in the long run they dont guarantee military victories where they count. Let's go through some scenarios!!
1. US modern airforce vs houthis- US lost
2. Israeli modern airforce vs Iran in mid 2025- Israel didnt win.
3. US modern airforce vs Iran in modern 2025- US didnt win(proof? It has to prepare a much larger armada to go for round 2)
4.US modern airforce vs Taliban, US loss!
5. US modern airforce vs Iraqi insurgents, US didnt win.
6. Israel modern airforce vs hezbollah in 2006 - loss!
You speak confidently about western airforce but based in facts on the ground, they r overrated and have drained their nations ALSO OF precious resources their countries and citizens needed.
Gfoh with being a volunteer parrot for cowardly western countries that act like they are experts and ready for clashes but meanwhile, they r really scared, that's why the lasttime we saw their boots on tje ground perform anywhere close to decent was almost 10 yrs ago .