General Avivi: Iran Had the Pieces but Played the Game All Wrong
Iran thought it had the upper hand. It didn’t.
In an eye-opening interview with The Media Line’s Felice Friedson, Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi pulled no punches, calling out what he described as a cascade of strategic mistakes by Tehran and its allies that flipped the script in Israel’s favor. Avivi, a former deputy commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division and founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, says Iran didn’t just stumble—it blew it.
“They did a huge mistake,” Avivi said, recalling the October 7 Hamas attack that kicked off the war. According to him, the assault was poorly timed and badly coordinated. “Once it was only Hamas,” he explained, “it was crystal clear to me they lost the war and we’re going to win decisively.”
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Avivi argued that Iran, had it waited until it went nuclear and fully armed its proxies, might have pushed Israel to the brink. Instead, it launched a war it couldn’t control—and gave Israel and the US the green light to hit back, hard.
That retaliation, Avivi says, was a success: more than half of Iran’s missile launchers and strategic infrastructure were wiped out. Iran’s long-range threats are now in ruins. “We can go all the way,” he said. “They are not able to stop us.”
Avivi isn’t claiming victory just yet. He says real regime change in Iran will have to come from the people. But Israel, he believes, has helped open the door.
To get the full picture—from Gaza to Natanz, from missiles to morale—read Felice Friedson’s full article and watch the interview with General Avivi. It’s a rare look inside the thinking of a military leader who’s been watching this war unfold for years.
