The absurd claim that one third of Tel Aviv was in ruins after the Twelve Day War in 2025 originated with none other than Douglas MacGregor. That man has in the past 4 years slung so much unadulterated nonsense into the ether that it's a miracle there still are people looking up to him. Obviously not long after making his bizarre claims they immediately trickled down to CiK where it was presented as the gospel by the usual suspects. I guess MacGregor does his job as he copium dealer well though, you gotta give the man credit for that.
Your claims of 85%-90% missile interception rates by the Israelis are in fact a lot more absurd than anything Macgregor has ever said.
The real interception rate on Iran's more advanced missiles is closer to 15%-20%, from what I recall was the assessment of
MIT prof Ted Postol. He is an expert on missile technology at MIT, and also happens to be Jewish, with close contacts and personal friendships with Israeli scientists and military tech experts in ballistics, so his info is based on the real and unfiltered feedback from Israeli sources on the ground. Postol is not politically biased in his technical assessments.
The
quantity of missiles launched by Iran on Israel in the 12 day war was not anywhere near what would be required to "level Tel Aviv", however they did take out very important targets including, most notably, the Israeli campus for biological and bioweapons research, where several buildings were flattened. Those are physical assets that cannot be replaced, decades of research vaporized. The Iranians have demonstrated their ability to destroy heavily guarded targets in that and other strikes at sensitive military targets, including strikes at holy Jewish sites like the diamond trade center and the stock market...
This is the best rundown on current missile technology and the challenges of defending against them from prof. Postol, and on Iran's true capabilities:
