No one does it quite like Israel
Israel Dominates Iranian Skies - An Edge Russia Still Can’t Match in Ukraine
In a striking contrast to Russia’s prolonged failure in Ukraine, Israel has rapidly achieved air superiority over Iran, including the skies above Tehran. Within two days of launching its offensive, Israeli fighter jets were operating freely inside Iranian airspace, striking strategic targets with precision
Within 48 hours of launching its first wave of attacks on Iran, Israel declared something most major powers dream of but few can claim: air superiority over a regional adversary’s capital. Israeli fighter jets were no longer relying solely on expensive standoff missiles launched from hundreds of miles away. Instead, they were flying and striking inside Iranian airspace, per a new Wall Street Journal report.
It was a strategic gain that the Russian military, despite its size, training, and resources, has failed to achieve after more than three years of war in Ukraine. That failure has kept Moscow mired in a static conflict defined by trenches and attrition, far from its early hopes of a swift, decisive campaign.
On Sunday, Israel took full advantage of its aerial dominance. The IDF announced it had destroyed dozens of surface-to-air missile systems across western Iran and eliminated senior figures in Iran’s military leadership, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence chief and his deputy.
The Israeli campaign, confined to the air, with no boots on the ground, points to an enduring principle of modern warfare: air superiority is often the gateway to strategic success.
“The two campaigns are showing the fundamental importance of air superiority,” said retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, who led allied air operations in Afghanistan in 2001. “In Ukraine, we see what happens when neither side has it, stalemate and attrition. In Iran, Israel’s dominance allows them to strike widely, efficiently, and at will.”
Israel’s initial strikes were carried out by its fleet of F-35 stealth fighters, outfitted with domestic enhancements. As Iranian defenses crumbled, older aircraft, like the F-15 and F-16, joined the fray, using short-range JDAM and Spice bombs to strike with both precision and cost-effectiveness.
“Over the past 24 hours, we completed an aerial route to Tehran and conducted an aerial breaching battle,” said Israeli Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. “Our pilots are flying deep into enemy territory and striking hundreds of targets with accuracy.”
For analysts, this air campaign is the inverse of Russia’s long, grinding war. Israel’s air force, they say, is simply more capable and its opponent, less prepared.
“There’s no comparison,” said Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment. “Israel’s air force is far more advanced than Russia’s, and Iran’s air defenses are far less competent than Ukraine’s.”
Indeed, while Ukraine scattered and hid its mobile air defense systems in February 2022, Iran was caught off-guard. Deceived by diplomatic overtures and possible delays in U.S.-Iran talks, Tehran was not expecting the war to start when it did—and certainly not with such speed and reach.
Israeli special forces, operating covertly inside Iran, reportedly destroyed key anti-air systems with short-range drones at the outset of the campaign. Simultaneously, intelligence operations enabled targeted assassinations of senior Iranian officials. The methods echoed those used by Ukraine weeks earlier to destroy Russian bombers on home soil.
“What Israel did to Iran is what Russia wanted to do to Ukraine,” said Israeli analyst Michael Horowitz. “But Ukrainian society proved resilient and hard to infiltrate. Iran, by contrast, has many within its population willing to cooperate with Israeli operations.”
Another advantage for Israel: the “aerial highway” created by years of attacks on Iranian positions in Syria. With Hezbollah largely neutralized and Syria’s air defenses degraded, Israeli jets can now reach Iran with fewer obstacles.
Iran, for its part, relies on a patchwork of Chinese and Russian systems, S-300s, locally made batteries, and uncoordinated command structures. That left critical targets exposed.
“Iran’s strategy was never built on air defenses alone,” said Fabian Hinz of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “They bet on deterrence, on missiles and proxies. But that bet has now failed.”
While Iran continues to launch ballistic salvos at Israeli cities, with devastating human cost, the strategic balance appears to be shifting. Israel is now reportedly hunting missile sites in real-time, aiming to destroy launchers before they fire.
“The best way to stop a missile is to blow it up before it’s airborne,” said retired U.S. Gen. Timothy Ray, former head of Global Strike Command. “That’s exactly what Israel is doing, steadily leveraging its advantage.”
The war is not over. Iran remains capable of inflicting damage, and its regime, however weakened, has not collapsed. But for now, in the skies over Tehran, Israel is in control.
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