In the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threats to strike Iran and following more than a year of punishing Israeli attacks, a battered but unbowed Islamic Republic is plotting its comeback, warns Middle East security analyst Dr. Eric Mandel.

“Iran is not giving up,” said Mandel, founder of MEPIN, the Middle East Political Information Network. “Iran's proxies, they may be down—Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis—but they're not stopping.”

According to Mandel, the moment to pressure Iran is now. He calls it a fleeting “window of opportunity” that could soon close. A potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine may open the door for Moscow to supply Iran with advanced weaponry, including the S-400 air defense system—an upgrade from the S-300 system that Israel destroyed in an October 26 strike in response to Tehran’s October 2 missile barrage.

But without clear US backing for the Iranian people, Mandel warns, even a successful strike on nuclear facilities could prove short-lived. Iran, he says, would simply rebuild—preserving the Islamic Republic's grip on power and undermining any hope for real change.