When you surround an enemy, leave an outlet free. Realize they have control over that outlet, and you really need shit to pass through there too. Remove sanctions on them because that outlet being closed really fucks with your oil prices and holy fuck are people mad about that and if your enemy can sell their oil prices will come down slightly. Shit, that only gives them more profits, and it helps one of your other big geopolitical rivals whose economy depends entirely on oil. Declare victory.
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant – wait, that sounds like something a pussy would do, pretend to be strong, no wait, strong and really fucking crazy, then back down and declare victory.
If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you can make up for it by POSTING THREATS TO COMMIT WAR CRIMES ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN ALL CAPS.
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight and tells his golfing buddies ahead of time so they can make their bets on prediction markets.
Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical; if details of your paedophilia are coming to light, join your least popular ally in the most pointless war and hope Fox News stops talking about Epstein.
And more generally:
The most clever of States will spend generations building a military alliance containing the richest countries in the world, and will use that to ensure that all conflicts happen on other continents, never endangering their home. They must then throw that away in a few moons by threatening to annex territories belonging to allies but always chickening out.
If your State is endowed with wealth, use that wealth to slowly shape the world to your liking over many generations. You may push other countries to adopt laws and treaties that are preferential to your interests. Be sure to squander that in under a year because you don’t understand what a tariff is.
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, one should lie constantly, about fucking everything. It matters not how obvious your lies are, people donning hats of red will believe and repeat those lies.
Communication is the key to warfare, so guard well your lines of communication. If you can ensure that the communication of your allies and enemies passes through your territory, use that to your advantage, but draw no attention. Then, one day, just fucking throw that whole advantage away because of some shit you saw on teevee.
On Iran specifically:
And more generally: