The recent overthrow of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad has had massive geopolitical implications for the entirety of the Middle East. Assad, once a client of both the Shiite Muslim, ethnically Persian-led Islamic Republic of Iran as well as the Russian Federation, has been replaced by an explicitly Turkish-backed, Sunni group known as the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (which is itself an offshoot of al Qaeda in Syria, known as Al Nusra Front). 

In response, Israel’s military has annexed the Golan Heights and Syria’s Mount Hermon, placing Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) within 25 kilometers of Damascus, the capital. 

Meanwhile, the HTS group has made multiple pledges to not wage war upon neighboring Israel and has even, reportedly, helped the IDF to capture weapons caches left behind by the collapsed Syrian Arab Army of Bashar al-Assad.

More importantly, though, thanks to their newfound holdings in Syria, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) can now reliably launch planes from their territory, fly over the captured Israeli territories in Syria, cut across Iraqi airspace, and then strike targets across Iran. This comes, of course, after the successful destruction by Israel of Iran’s Russian-built S-300 air defenses.

According to the Israeli government, that mission conducted last year has basically made Iran “essentially naked” and vulnerable to more IAF airstrikes targeting suspected nuclear weapons facilities and key government buildings throughout the country.

In response to these claims, the Iranians, who are very much on the backfoot since Assad’s fall, are desperately trying to prove to the world that their air defenses are second-to-none. Tehran’s rulers have also gone about making new and comprehensive agreements with Russia as a clear signal to Israel, the United States, and even Turkey, that the Islamic Republic of Iran remains strong.

In fact, Iran is vulnerable to the kind of decapitating strikes that the leaders of Iran correctly anticipate may be coming once the pro-Israel US President-Elect Donald J. Trump is officially sworn in as the American president on January 20.

Wait, Does Iran Really Have Laser Weapons?

Recently, the Iranian military has made a show of displaying and trumpeting to the world their other, non-Russian-made air defenses. The Iranians are right to point out that the S-300s that Israel knocked out were not the only systems available to them. Indeed, Iran has spent years building a layered air defense network designed to stop incoming airstrikes from places like Israel.

Yet, these systems, when matched against the powerful Israeli F-35I “Adir,” are unlikely to be anywhere near as effective as the Iranian military claims.

To add more tensions to the mix, Iran’s military has unveiled a next-generation laser air defense system. Known as the “Seraj,” Iran revealed this weapon during their January 12, 2025, military exercises conducted in the western and northern portions of Iran. The Iranian military asserts that the Seraj is specifically meant to protect highly sensitive nuclear sites, such as the Fordow enrichment facility.

Iranian sources have described the Seraj laser air defense system as being “integrated into the multilayered air defense systems surrounding Iran’s nuclear installation.” According to Army Recognition, a defense industry trade publication, “Laser technology offers unique advantages as a cost-effective and efficient solution for neutralizing aerial threats, including drones and missiles, while minimizing collateral damage.”

By using a high-energy photon beam directed at aerial targets, the rapid heating this energy weapon uses disables those aerial targets by effectively leading to structural failure.

If there is any truth to what the Iranian sources are claiming, then the technology is truly innovative. Of course, questions abound as to whether this is just a desperate ploy to restore Iran’s lost deterrence or if it’s real.

Even if the Seraj is real and works as advertised, how effective is it and how many of these systems are readily available to stop the swarm of warplanes, missiles, and drones that Israel (and possibly the United States) are likely to launch at Iran if these powers are as determined to strike at Iran as they appear. 

How Did Iran Get These?

A greater question that needs to be asked, though: how was the Islamic Republic of Iran, not known for its technological prowess when matched against regional heavyweights like Israel, able to so quickly (and quietly) develop this system?

Recently, the Russians signed a deal with Tehran that effectively formalized the already informal ties that have long connected the two regimes. Part of this deal likely involved the transfer of weapons—specifically, advanced Russian technologies—to the Islamic Republic in exchange for Iran continuing to provide ammunition, drones, and missiles for Russia’s ongoing war effort against neighboring Ukraine.

The IAF should conduct an airstrike against targets defended by this alleged Seraj laser air defense system to test whether this is one, big Iranian bluff or not. The data such a strike could provide to Israeli (and American) war planners would be helpful in determining the resistance level of Iran, should the need to strike Iran arise.

Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the National Interest, and a contributor at Popular Mechanics, consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.