The United States leadership has repeatedly declared victory in the war against Iran.

However, mounting evidence suggests that the US may have already fallen short in this confrontation.

Reports continue to surface indicating that the unprovoked war waged by the US and Israel was based on lies, worse than the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 when the US actually went to the United Nations, albeit with false information.

US intelligence concluded on Wednesday that Iran was not rebuilding nuclear enrichment capacities that were destroyed in a US-Israeli strike last June, directly contradicting the narrative used by the US leader for starting the war.

These findings followed the resignation of Joe Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (who follows me on X), saying "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby".

US citizens are overwhelmingly against the war. NPR/PBS News/Marist polls conducted on March 2-4 had 54 percent of US citizens opposing the war and only 36 percent approving.

Already, forecasts, such as by Polymarket, suggest that the Republicans are likely to lose both chambers of the Congress in the midterm elections on Nov 3.

But it could actually be good to bring back the checks and balances that have been largely absent for the past year.

The US leadership likes to tout the powerful destructive force of the US military, but the war has inflicted huge damage to US standing in the world.

If the late Harvard professor Joseph Nye were still alive, he would sigh at the rapid loss of US soft power due to the reckless actions of the US government around the world.

The declining image of the US is evident in various polls conducted by the Pew Research Center and Gallup. The ongoing war has also lost the support of the closest US allies.

European leaders say they won't participate in the war.

Considering their blind obedience to Washington in the past, the rejection by almost all US allies of the US leader's appeal this week to send their navies to keep the Strait of Hormuz open has sent a strong signal of their disapproval of the illegal war.

The heavy civilian casualties caused by the US and Israel in both Iran and Lebanon have shocked the world, particularly the 160 schoolgirls killed in a US Tomahawk strike.

The assassinations of Iranian leaders and senior officials conducted by the US and Israel are unlawful. They simply normalize tactics that undermine global order.

And they are ill-advised because such despicable murders will only unite the Iranians, as witnessed by the huge demonstrations in support of the government following the assassinations of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the country's security chief Ali Larijani.

The war has wreaked havoc on the global economy, including the US economy. Stock markets have plunged, oil prices have skyrocketed and inflation is shooting up.

Things could become more worrisome with the US and Israel attacking Iran's energy infrastructure, triggering retaliation from Tehran. It could potentially engulf the whole region in flames and cause a serious energy crisis worldwide.

The dispatch of 2,500 US Marines to the Middle East, probably to take Iran's Kharg Island, will only spell a bigger disaster for the US, similar to its bitter experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While the US leader is unable to find an exit in the war with Iran, he has already set his eyes on Cuba.

The US president claimed this week that he can do whatever he wants with Cuba, reviving 19th century imperialist rhetoric.

The nationwide electricity outage as a result of US oil embargo has caused huge suffering to 11 million Cuban people, especially those waiting in hospital operating rooms.

Such an embargo has been condemned for more than 30 years by UN member states, including all the Global South and most US allies.

With such actions, the US has become a major source of global instability and a threat to world peace.

The author is a China Daily columnist.

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn