A two-month conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran has laid bare the strategic limits of American military power, according to international relations analysts. Despite overwhelming military superiority, the US-Israeli campaign failed to achieve its core objectives — variously defined as halting Iran's nuclear programme, forcing regime change, and neutralising its ballistic missile capability — with experts describing the effort as a "colossal strategic failure" due to contradictory war aims and an underestimation of Iran's capacity to endure pressure. The episode has broader global implications: China, which purchases up to 90% of Iran's seaborne oil exports, is watching closely ahead of a planned Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, while Pakistan has emerged as an unexpected diplomatic mediator between Washington and Tehran, and a pending deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz (a critical chokepoint through which a large share of global oil supplies flow) may offer economic relief without resolving the conflict's underlying causes.