Entertainment
What “Winning” The Iran War Might Realistically Look Like
Professor Tarek Masoud joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about the Iran War with Israel and the United States. Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► Follow WIRED: Instagram ►► Twitter ►► Facebook ►► Tik Tok ►► Also,…
@nkkdiii
April 22, 2026 at 4:14 pm
Trump: ‘I won more than anyone’s ever won.’
This guy: ‘uh, actually…’ 😂
@phaedrussmith1949
April 22, 2026 at 4:16 pm
The wins for Trump are as follows:
1. Fatigue
2. Humiliation
3. More of Trumps lies.
It’s probably going to be a combination of all three. Either way, both the people of Iran and the people of the United States are going to lose.
@seanmerchant608
April 22, 2026 at 4:23 pm
Once shooting stop’s, blockade ends.Real struggle for current regime starts to keep control over demanding masses of Iranian citizens.
@Mk2HistoryBuff
April 22, 2026 at 4:27 pm
In other words we win when things return to the way they were before we started shooting?
@HarietDubman
April 22, 2026 at 4:46 pm
@Mk2HistoryBuffding ding ding
@JocelynGlow
April 22, 2026 at 4:28 pm
This has a good feel, very enjoyable to watch
@krisrap3828
April 22, 2026 at 4:49 pm
So don’t fight Iran? What is this dude saying?
@bjornstenfors8455
April 22, 2026 at 4:55 pm
Yes, don’t fight Iran. This war is incredibly stupid. It’s a forever-war that the US cannot win. The US is crashing the world economy while every bomb is increasing the Iranian support for the regime and undermining the Iranian opposition.
@rainzerdesu
April 22, 2026 at 5:12 pm
Why would you fight Iran? You’ve burned through 2 decades of military munitions in 3 months to achieve exactly what you had before burning all those supplies. You couldn’t even fight the Taliban to more than a stand still in Afghanistan and they are less developed and have less resources and less regional power.
@2064_President
April 22, 2026 at 4:50 pm
The best case scenario is going back to how things used to be, just with even higher tensions. Not a good recipe for peace.
@timg4444
April 22, 2026 at 5:04 pm
So what is Iran’s strategic objective???? Other than survive/force a surrender
@rainzerdesu
April 22, 2026 at 5:11 pm
If you are invaded, that is your strategic objective. Why would they have any other strategic objective?
@bjornstenfors8455
April 22, 2026 at 5:40 pm
Iran’s strategic objective is to survive.
@ThatVideoGuyTom
April 22, 2026 at 5:05 pm
The Objective is to HIDE the EPSTEIN FILES.
@AlAlekzander
April 22, 2026 at 5:14 pm
So they just need to find a 1000 pounds of enriched uranium under the ground and put in a US-friendly regime and control the strait of hormuz. No problem. LOL!
@mountainguy4710
April 22, 2026 at 5:17 pm
He has crickets on his tie.
@sleepycactus3656
April 22, 2026 at 5:17 pm
Survive.
That is how they win.
USA is so obviously the villain in this movie
WTAF
@Gracelyn-o1k
April 22, 2026 at 5:19 pm
This whole ‘winning’ thing sounds like trying to beat a video game with no actual win screen. ….
@alecfloyd3771
April 22, 2026 at 5:48 pm
the tie is nice.
@Vanthrax_Aster
April 22, 2026 at 5:59 pm
So many people on the far right claim we “win” wars that we lost because our killcount was high. Those people have no place discussing war. Winning a war is not friggen CoD acheivements.
@ApocalypseWow
April 22, 2026 at 6:07 pm
Well if Iran’s military is completely obliterated the other goals are pretty easy to accomplish
@keeplearning2734
April 22, 2026 at 6:08 pm
i have questions about his tie
@airporttrucker8529
April 22, 2026 at 6:13 pm
Well somebody was winning at the futures market.
@kitcutting
April 22, 2026 at 6:29 pm
Similar concept happened in Vietnam.
USA got tired of fighting so they left. The VC and NVA reunified the country, got what they wanted, and raised the red flag that’s been standing ever since.
A gross oversimplification, but you all get the point
@BeckyMcDonald-m1s
April 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Free Palestine
@uwu-nt4wb
April 22, 2026 at 6:58 pm
this guy looks like a filthy jew
@daniellamay2709
April 22, 2026 at 7:22 pm
Yup! They got z Nothing 2 loose
@daniellamay2709
April 22, 2026 at 7:22 pm
FILES
@jpruiz8253
April 22, 2026 at 7:43 pm
Friendly reminder Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nukes
@motiv-8-u
April 23, 2026 at 3:51 am
so? Pakistan does.
@jpruiz8253
April 23, 2026 at 10:35 am
@motiv-8-uPakistan isn’t in the Middle East ya donkey
@MrBunnylow
April 22, 2026 at 7:48 pm
Strategic objective. Distraction to … ???
@darcicali7693
April 22, 2026 at 8:27 pm
Do you know what a nuclear weapon is? Look up Hiroshima 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
@pippa3150
April 22, 2026 at 11:52 pm
Dump says he would have won Vietnam
But he wasn’t even man enough to fight in it.
@Jesse-ey5xd
April 23, 2026 at 12:12 am
“A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”, 1996. War with Iran is the plan. I get it now. It’s never been about uranium enrichment. America and Israel will never seek peace. They must be defeated.
@CatLady2026
April 23, 2026 at 2:45 am
If the next president apologizes to the world
@crhu319
April 24, 2026 at 12:40 am
There is no “next President”
@motiv-8-u
April 23, 2026 at 3:49 am
The stated goal has not changed at all, we do know where the uranium is, we have satellite images of them filling in the entrance’s of 3 diff tunnels of the Isfahan tunnel system.
Regime change was never on the table. its always been to destroy their nuke program, airforce, navy and make it so they can not intimidate the region. paert two was to cut off all ties w proxies groups and third was get the uranium.
@bakuskhan3070
April 23, 2026 at 4:29 am
The objective was never about nuclear weapon. The Iranians proposed diluting the 60% enriched uranium to 3.5% enriched uranium. The US attacked the next day. The objective was collapsing iran to pave the way for Israeli hegemony in the region
@crhu319
April 24, 2026 at 12:40 am
No. Collapsing GCC.
@anthonynapolitano7650
April 23, 2026 at 5:27 am
First you set military goals, then you accomplish those goals, then a Harvard Professor changes the goals with conviction on the internet…
@joeturner9692
April 24, 2026 at 8:34 am
Mission accomplished!
@IceWolfLoki
April 23, 2026 at 5:36 am
Yeah if wars were won by killcount then the Axis-powers won WW2
@Duskorn
April 23, 2026 at 6:45 am
This video is a tangent and doesn’t answer the question AT ALL
@nyamutsambaivianashe201
April 23, 2026 at 7:21 am
So…no realistic win then
@_P.D_
April 23, 2026 at 7:50 am
When I listen to many of these so-called expert voices—including sections of the media—I can’t help but feel that the tone often leans toward warmongering. While they openly criticise Trump, they simultaneously cast doubt on whether Iran’s nuclear capability has truly been neutralised, almost keeping the threat narrative alive. It leaves me wondering—who actually wants this conflict to end?
@jgcoppens
April 23, 2026 at 10:46 am
Winning means the public forgets about Epstein
@TheCorvairGuy
April 23, 2026 at 11:19 am
If Iran thinks it’s winning, they’re living in a fantasy. Of course, Iran has largely been about impressions, innuendo and facade…
@Kozinskowitzky
April 25, 2026 at 5:00 pm
Well they’re certainly not losing at this point 😂
@3TinTinTin
April 23, 2026 at 1:31 pm
It is very possible that both sides can lose / suffer losses in a war, not only to different extents but in different manners that cannot so easily be weighed against one another to determine which is the party that is less worse off
@Gloray83
April 23, 2026 at 4:20 pm
Americans aren’t winning anything. We will be forever be enslaved with the amount of federal debt they keep piling on
@Serpreme-y1q
April 23, 2026 at 5:08 pm
That Trump keeps piling on*
@Kozinskowitzky
April 25, 2026 at 5:06 pm
Can’t believe I’m saying it, but we need Bill Clinton back. At least he had budget surpluses which brought down public debt
@dijonace
April 23, 2026 at 4:31 pm
And to think how many Americans voted for this idiot
@fanthony
April 23, 2026 at 6:48 pm
Having a suicidal threshold for pain and calling mass suffering “resilience” while simultaneously oppressing your own population that supports the “enemy” isn’t victory, it’s tyrannical pathology
@crhu319
April 24, 2026 at 12:41 am
Good description of USA
@tcn676
April 23, 2026 at 11:16 pm
I thought that Trump’s idea of winning is sending Iran back to the stone ages. This will lead to genocide if Trump has his way.
@goodcitizen-rn9797
April 24, 2026 at 7:50 am
Winning and surviving are two different things. Number of dead soldiers and civilians do matter, go ask Russia how they are “winning” in Ukraine.
@tzrider....7586
April 24, 2026 at 8:26 am
Trump is Bibi’s favourite boy Friday. If you want to know what the US objectives are in Iran and you’re asking boy Friday, you will get nowhere. He has NO clue.
Ask Bibi.
@Baukereg
April 24, 2026 at 11:39 am
The only possible win rn is finding some excuse to get out.
@Amina-o1f6r
April 24, 2026 at 12:07 pm
🎉
@EjazToosy
April 24, 2026 at 1:42 pm
Mouthwash for mushrooms
@JECSRNY
April 24, 2026 at 2:05 pm
Surviving is not victory. The Japanese and Germans survived WW2. I think a less belligerent Iran would be a good start.
@joeblow3990
April 27, 2026 at 6:31 pm
There is only one country that is too belligerent.
And it is NOT Iran.
@JECSRNY
April 27, 2026 at 8:19 pm
@joeblow3990”Death to America!”…nothing belligerent about that.
@yewhanlim8916
April 24, 2026 at 10:26 pm
Removing Iran’s existing enriched uranium does not permanently destroy the know-how or the possibility of future enrichment. It mainly increases the breakout time.
@sauravkumaryadavxyz
April 25, 2026 at 1:08 am
Trump is moron 🤡
@Scott-sx1bf
April 25, 2026 at 1:29 am
Reminds of the logic of the Vietnam war with McNamara assuring LBJ (iirc) that we were winning the war because the death toll in the North was higher than ours. Somewhat poetic that a Vietnam draft dodger got himself into a modern version of the same war.
@Kozinskowitzky
April 25, 2026 at 4:54 pm
Spot on
@Sussyheng
April 25, 2026 at 8:16 am
Khamenei: “Supreme leader of Iran”
Kim: “Supreme leader of North Korea”
Trump: “Supreme mis-leader of the US”
@helixator3975
April 25, 2026 at 8:56 am
Trump really shat the bed on this one … now he’s squirming around, trying to figure out the least humiliating way to get out of it.
@SriBrent
April 25, 2026 at 10:26 am
Really appreciate your insights professor. Pragmatic.
@Adam131-o8t
April 25, 2026 at 10:44 am
USA lost a couple lives and achieved what win ?
@Kozinskowitzky
April 25, 2026 at 5:01 pm
Higher gas prices and a blockade on the Hormuz Strait, neither of which existed prior to the Israeli/US surprise attack
@brianmahoney3256
April 25, 2026 at 11:10 am
Iranians aren’t going anywhere. Ultimately they will win, just like Afghanistan.
@cathrynory8854
April 25, 2026 at 11:37 am
Trump has no strategy whatsoever.
@CalumetRedJacket
April 25, 2026 at 11:54 am
There’s a big difference between winning battles and winning a war.
@hanspeterraatz4928
April 27, 2026 at 10:31 pm
Right, the German army in WW2 won the most battles, but lost the war. Courland army: 6 wins, no loss. Samland army: 3 wins, 1 loss. The last battle won and the last tank battle for Germany, 1 week before surrender in the battle of Bautzen, close to Berlin. Killing 40 million did also not win WW20.
@thesiliconledgertv
April 25, 2026 at 12:13 pm
I forgot Wired had a YouTube channel 🤦♂️
@Kozinskowitzky
April 25, 2026 at 4:51 pm
Similar to Afghanistan: the Taliban didn’t need to defeat the US military on the battlefield, they just needed to wear them down long enough that the US government found it too costly to continue their efforts
@tripwire4727
April 27, 2026 at 9:16 pm
of course for every insurgent we killed inspired two more to fight.
@Kozinskowitzky
April 27, 2026 at 10:05 pm
@tripwire4727 exactly. Now we will see that on a larger scale. Gazans, Lebanese and Iranians aren’t going to forget what Israel and the US have done anytime soon
@hanspeterraatz4928
April 27, 2026 at 10:32 pm
Like Iraq, 4000 dead and 32 000 wounded by IED’s, the US left.
@Kozinskowitzky
April 27, 2026 at 10:39 pm
@hanspeterraatz4928 and in the end absolutely nothing was gained as the Taliban have control over the entire country and now run the government
@thomastse6228
April 29, 2026 at 8:07 am
Same as in Vietnam
@lexon7vod
April 25, 2026 at 7:11 pm
The thing is even if trump puts boots on the ground how the f you hold that ground?
America lost that war before it started.
@chuckinator0
April 26, 2026 at 4:11 pm
The refraction through his glasses is insane. He must have a very strong prescription
@Psych-ewiz
April 26, 2026 at 4:16 pm
We shouldn’t worry about Iran’s nuclear program and we shouldn’t worry about Iranian leaders be.. because it isn’t “our” business. Imagine IRAN kills Trump to change leader or destroy US nuclear weapons. Same story except US meddles and terrorises the world Iran doesn’t
@michaelfearns4085
April 26, 2026 at 4:31 pm
Trumps ‘miming’ of holding a rifle is hilarious- I’m definitely not a soldier but I’ve held a rifle before and it certainly did not have 2 triggers! 😂😂
@Aspectus
April 26, 2026 at 9:51 pm
We won’t know their nuclear material is gone until we get a different president who doesn’t worship Israel
@barryhoward7997
April 26, 2026 at 11:16 pm
Survival is not victory! If Iran fails in the future you would have to change your scenario. Not to mention that this war has gone on for near 50 years. Your suggesting it will end. What about Isreal’s involvement now and in the future. There are the countries in the region. Do they align against Iran. Only Iran’s decisions will make or break their future. Don’t be so simple.
@gabehorn1001
April 27, 2026 at 3:06 am
All trump has done is made it open season on Americans for Iranian revengers.
@dougbowling1844
April 27, 2026 at 11:22 am
God bless trump and Israel
@Morristown337
April 27, 2026 at 2:23 pm
Forget nukes, if they ever use them or if a proxy uses them then give Israel MAD and give the nuk subs to hit back on Iran if Israel is hit by anyone with Iran enriched uranium. The main goal here is opening the straight of Hormuz and getting oil flowing. They are shorting oil to keep it down on paper but that wont last it Hormuz is closed by late May. It will slingshot in America to $5-7 per gallon and 7-8 per deisal with likely rationing by July 4th.
@JDYouTubeTV-j1o
April 27, 2026 at 6:44 pm
Harvard Professor? 😂
@hanspeterraatz4928
April 27, 2026 at 10:25 pm
The victor is the one, who stands between the legs of the women of the enemy.
@brent2040
April 27, 2026 at 10:46 pm
Stop china’s cheap access to oil. Usa is already winning.
@ikF3aV2m
April 28, 2026 at 10:51 am
In the war of 1812, the Americans AND the British Canadians both achieved their respective victory by gaining more territories.
After a long and costly fight, neither Americans nor British Canadians wanted to cede terriitory, so they just took Native Americans land, and both sides called it a victory 😅
@aerialvation
April 28, 2026 at 3:13 pm
Just surviving is your opinion and a very biased one at that. I consider it a major loss and I don’t support the war. I think you meant to say they want their regime to survive right? I think a win for them would be to get permission to resume enrichment anytime between now for 3-5% or to wait 5 or so years while maintaining their regime, all of which is what I think will happen in a win win deal.
@billmcgee2066
April 28, 2026 at 3:35 pm
Release the Epstein files first
@pootis4986
April 28, 2026 at 3:52 pm
Why is that particular body of water just named “gulf”? I’m pretty it has an actual name…
@benjaminjones8782
April 29, 2026 at 2:35 pm
Persian gulf or Arabian gulf
@aftabkhan1961
April 28, 2026 at 6:22 pm
America and Israel are pure evil.
@gururagkalanidhi7284
April 29, 2026 at 6:20 am
For 20 years, American presidents kept informing their public that they were “winning “ the war on communism in Vietnam. Until they didn’t.
@landofahhs_1
April 29, 2026 at 12:31 pm
The old saying, “Win the war but lose the battle” is alive and well…even if you believe tRump lies, America is going so far in debt every American is loosing their future…and our children WILL PAY FOR IT!
@mwp574
April 30, 2026 at 8:24 am
I want to fix your tie idk why