LONDON, March 26. /TASS/. Iran holds the advantage in the conflict with the United States, the latter having lost the initiative due to underestimating the adversary’s strength, the former head of the British foreign intelligence service MI6 (2014-2020), Alex Younger, said in an interview with The Economist.

"The reality is that the US underestimated the task and I think as of about two weeks ago lost the initiative to Iran. In practice, the Iranian regime has been more resilient than I think anyone would have expected," Younger said.

He noted the successful decisions made by the Iranian leadership, such as the dispersal of military capabilities and the delegation of authority to employ those weapons "which has given them significant extra resilience against this incredibly powerful air campaign."

Younger sees a "horizontal escalation" on Tehran’s part. "They have embarked on what’s technically called horizontal escalation i.e. firing rockets at anybody within range," he explained. "In fact [this approach] has been a very good way of putting an indirect price on the US <…> and then [the Iranians] they’ve understood the significance of the energy war and held the straits at threat and globalized <…> the conflict in a way that gives them some weapons."

The former head of British intelligence said that for the US this is a war of choice, but for Iran it is a war of survival. "That’s imbued them with more staying power than the US and certainly US counterparts and I think that really is giving them the whip hand," Younger said.

He also noted that even a nearly flawless air campaign cannot eliminate the threat as long as the adversary retains drone stockpiles. "Even with just 10% of its initial drone stocks, it [Iran] can hold the straits at threat. <…> I think the options for the US and Israel are pretty limited and not great," Younger remarked.