DID Press: American analyst and journalist Fareed Zakaria highlighted that recent regional developments indicate a fundamental transformation in the nature of war, with Iran serving as a clear example.
Zakaria noted that in the first week of Tehran’s responses, drones accounted for approximately 71% of recorded strikes against Gulf states—a trend previously seen in Ukraine—demonstrating a decisive model for future conflicts.
He explained that modern warfare increasingly relies on swarms of low-cost, commercially built suicide drones, autonomous systems, AI-based targeting, commercial satellite imagery, flexible communications, integrated sensors, and cyber tools. The cost of each Shahed drone is about $35,000, illustrating how industrial-scale precision and rapid field-to-production integration define the new military architecture.
Zakaria emphasized that the goal is no longer just striking targets, but achieving scale, software integration, and speed. As drone proliferation spreads, battles will occur “everywhere,” leaving soldiers with far less security than in the past.
He concluded that the critical lesson from Iran in 2026 is that precision is now mass-produced, and success will favor nations combining a few advanced, expensive weapons with large numbers of inexpensive drones, where human judgment is gradually being supplanted by algorithms.