The 19th century military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz observed that war is the continuation of politics by different means. This is an apt description of Iranian military strategy and geo-political affairs. It is consistent with the rationale that guided General Qasem Soleimani for the last two decades.

As a superb military strategist Soleimani grasped that the distance between A to B isn't necessarily identical to the distance from B to A. Iran and Israel do not share a physical border, Tehran and Tel Aviv are about 1000 miles apart. Despite Israel's relentless threats to attack Iran, it has never been clear whether Israel has the military capacity to cause significant damage to Iran.

It isn't clear how Israeli pilots are supposed to cover the distance and fly undetected over Jordan, Syria or Iraq. Where, or how would the Israeli plane refuel and so on.  Israel has not managed to solve this logistical military riddle.