Certainly the above is different from what is being reported by MSM. In fact if I search for:Iran pummel Israel only reports of Israel pummeling Iran come up.
U.S. Central Command, meanwhile, is asking the Pentagon to send more military intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days but likely through September, according to a notification obtained by POLITICO.
It’s the first known call for additional intelligence personnel for the Iran war by the administration, and a sign the Pentagon is already allocating funding for operations that may stretch long beyond President Donald Trump’s initial four-week timeline for the conflict.
The Pentagon is also trying to ship more air defenses to the region, especially smaller, less expensive counter-drone systems that the department has been developing over the last several years, a U.S. official said.
I believe there was a miscalculation on the administration’s part. Iran will not be a quickie resolution like Venezuela. SURPRISE!
Reports indicate that Kurdish Iranian militant groups have launched an offensive against Iranian regime forces in the country’s northwest, allegedly with U.S. backing.
Kurdish groups have denied the reports.
*Kurds are one of Iran’s largest ethnic minorities and are concentrated along the country’s western frontier with Iraq and Turkey. *
An ethnic-based insurgency, however, is unlikely to attract broad support across Iran’s population. It will also raise immediate alarm in Ankara. Turkey has long opposed U.S. cooperation with Kurdish armed groups in Syria and will certainly view the emergence of a U.S.-backed Kurdish militant foothold inside Iran with equal concern.
Many Kurds still remember that encouraging uprisings against Saddam Hussein in 1991, the United States ultimately stood aside as Saddam’s forces crushed Kurdish rebels.
“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”
The war in Iran is going very well for Russia. India and China are buying their oil which will prop up their economy and help finance their invasion. We must be playing a version of 3d chess far beyond my comprehension:
Iran’s drone swarm tactics against Gulf states are prompting calls for cheaper regional defense layers that would avoid interceptor exhaustion, as experts warn of the possibility of a prolonged drone war across the Middle East.
Figures published by Gulf defense ministries indicate that as of March 3, Iran has launched more than 540 missiles and carried out over 1,450 drone strikes against regional countries, with drones constituting roughly three-quarters of the attacks, Reuters reported.
Some of the weaponry used by countries and their allies to shoot down low-cost drones includes the U.S.-made Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) systems as well as Rafale fighters, F-15s and Eurofighters.
“Each interception carries a financial and logistical cost – estimates suggest that for every dollar Iran spends producing drones, Gulf states may spend $20-$28 on defensive fire, with individual interceptors often costing more than $1 million,” Schiavi added.
Iran deliberately took aim at America’s “soft underbelly” — military bases and diplomatic missions within easy reach, said Robert Malley, a former special envoy for Iran in the Biden administration.
Iran’s armaments have flown at U.S. installations in at least nine countries, from the Persian Gulf to Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Dozens of people were injured and some killed, mostly local citizens. Drones have also hit American embassies and consulates in Riyadh, Dubai and Kuwait City, sparking fires.
The unmanned devices can carry powerful explosives as far as 2,000 kilometres, and they’re programmed to hit specific targets. That’s what damaged three U.S. diplomatic missions in the past days.
Iran was the first country to develop these, though they have been successfully adopted by Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Ballistic missiles are Iran’s other strength. They are such a threat to Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Iran be forced to give them up in the talks leading up to this war.
Iran’s arsenal — the biggest in the Mideast — consists of more than 20 kinds, most assembled in Iran from domestic and foreign parts.
Justin Crump, CEO of Sibylline, a British risk and intelligence consultancy.
Crump. He estimates Iran now has about 2,000 long-range missiles and as many short-range missiles.
At the rate they are being used, Crump said Iran had about 10 to 12 days’ worth of supply when this war started.
For all the strategic objectives that remain unknown about the ongoing U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, this much is clear: Regional fallout was predictable and the shocks to global order are growing by the hour.
In Pakistan, U.S. consulates immediately became the target of Shia protesters
I imagine US ambassadors of neighboring nations are being called in to be chewing for US-Israel dragging their countries into this conflict.
The U.S. and Israel are racing to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles, but it is very likely that it has many in reserve to deliver the final blow, which is the destruction of desalination plants, without which the Gulf states cannot survive. No water, no state, it is as simple as that. State implosion is a very real possibility in the U.A.E, Qatar, and other Gulf states.
Knowing this, it is very likely that Gulf Arab leaders will sooner rather than later press Donald Trump to declare victory and end the U.S. assault. As their supplies of anti-ballistic “interceptor” missiles dwindle, they will have to choose between their own survival and tolerating the near existential costs of a prolonged conflict. Not surprisingly, U.S. military officials insist that the Arab states are not running out of interceptors, but the supply is finite. A catastrophe of epic proportions is a real possibility.
Given the substantial concessions that Iran put on the table during indirect talks that were clearly an American cover for war, it is clear that White House decided from the outset that decapitation was preferable to a real compromise, one that would have allowed the regime to survive.
So some Gulf states could end up as collateral damage.
Yes, Iran has many missiles in underground caverns. They open the door to launch one. The launch site is detected and bombed and can no longer be used to launch the remaining missiles in storage.
The United States is running out of ammunition in our war with Iran. The Trump administration has repeatedly struck Iran after failing to reach a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program. Most recently, President Donald Trump said the conflict could go on for as long as “four weeks.” But each day the war goes on, the more America uses scarce missiles that will take billions of dollars and years to replace. The sooner the United States can declare victory and go home, the better it will be for Washington’s ability to conventionally deter China, Russia, and North Korea.
Among Washington’s objectives are the degradation of Iran’s military capabilities, the reduction of oil flowing to China, and for a different, more compliant leadership to emerge in Tehran. That last aim carries the greatest probability of an extended conflict. This is because regime change from the air is not possible without armed conflict on the ground—either through a U.S.-led invasion or from a local revolt of Iranians and their military against their government. Given the Iranian people are not armed, any revolution would have to come from their own military, which so far has remained loyal to the regime.
So likely another failed and expensive intervention.
Yes, Iran has many missiles in underground caverns. They open the door to launch one. The launch site is detected and bombed and can no longer be used to launch the remaining missiles in storage.
Bahrain, which says Iran damaged a plant, depends heavily on purified seawater
An Iranian drone attack damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain, bringing the war to the oil-rich Persian Gulf’s most strategic resource: drinking water.
The US has won tactical victories in Iran. Just as The US tactically defeated North Vietnam & Taliban on the ground in all engagements. Yet North Vietnam and the Taliban rule in their nations. So strategically they beat the USA.
The nastiness of the macroeconomic outlook (e.g., my normally very inperturbable Silicon Valley “z”illionaire brother just told me he has sold all that he legally sanely can of his USA based securities and is coming to look at properties near me in Mexico as well as in Southeast Asia).
So, perhaps we can resurrect an old METAR custom of “Lighten up and let your hair down Sunday”?
The bizarre madness of it all is underlined by the eerily far-sighted and terrifying similarity of POTUS and his brilliant sidekick(s?) to this — Pinky (think Orange-ish….) and the Brain (Vance/Thiel/Musk….)
…and this is a non-partisan critique, as I still have friendships with GOPers who see Clinton&Obama&Biden in similar light, go figure.
I won a GOPer over in the last week. We were at odds on everything. We are not at odds on Iran. He is Greek/American. Lots of cousins in Greece. Recent UCONN grad.
And I quote, “Anyone on either extreme is being used by the media”. He woke up.
This war is completely illegal. So was Lybia under Obama.
Obama did not understand the Middle East. There is no such thing as an Arab Spring. The Arabs are the power holders, conquering minority over other nations’ majorities that are not Muslim. At this point Bibi has gotten the US establishment up to speed.
The Canaanites are not necessarily Muslims. Only 20% of the people in the Levant are Arab.
We spend more defending oil fields than on Israel. And with a lot of boots on the ground.
We are spending more freeing the Iranians than we spend on Ukraine. That is not for anyone but the Iranians. After all, a nuclear-armed regime would have destroyed itself as well.
