by Navigator » Tue Feb 24, 2026 9:26 pm
The US military is redeploying serious air reinforcements (USN and USAF) to the Middle East to threaten Iran.
The US wants two things. First, and hopefully easiest, is some kind of decent treaty preventing Iranian nuclear capability. Second would be regime change.
It appears that the buildup is solely air power based. IMHO this is a good thing. We do NOT need a ground war with Iran. To put it into perspective, Iran is 4 times the size, both geographically and population wise, of Iraq. The US ground forces are not ready for this, even if there was an internal insurgency.
Hopefully, Iran will bow to the pressure. But I doubt it, as they are religious fanatics who believe God is on their side. They probably view the trouncing they got from the last bombing campaign as a "test of faith", rather than facing reality.
Heaven help any US pilot that goes down over Iran.
At some point, the Iranians may use their "almost nuclear" option, which is to mine the Straits of Hormuz. They have the capability to do this. No maritime insurance company is going to insure a supertanker going through a minefield, so this would cut off oil exports from the Persian Gulf. Countering this would require not just minesweeping, but securing the Iranian shoreline from which mines could be deployed. That would be a real pandora's box for the US military, as such "securing" missions tend to spiral (as in Marines "securing" airbases in South Vietnam in 1965).
The US military is redeploying serious air reinforcements (USN and USAF) to the Middle East to threaten Iran.
The US wants two things. First, and hopefully easiest, is some kind of decent treaty preventing Iranian nuclear capability. Second would be regime change.
It appears that the buildup is solely air power based. IMHO this is a good thing. We do NOT need a ground war with Iran. To put it into perspective, Iran is 4 times the size, both geographically and population wise, of Iraq. The US ground forces are not ready for this, even if there was an internal insurgency.
Hopefully, Iran will bow to the pressure. But I doubt it, as they are religious fanatics who believe God is on their side. They probably view the trouncing they got from the last bombing campaign as a "test of faith", rather than facing reality.
Heaven help any US pilot that goes down over Iran.
At some point, the Iranians may use their "almost nuclear" option, which is to mine the Straits of Hormuz. They have the capability to do this. No maritime insurance company is going to insure a supertanker going through a minefield, so this would cut off oil exports from the Persian Gulf. Countering this would require not just minesweeping, but securing the Iranian shoreline from which mines could be deployed. That would be a real pandora's box for the US military, as such "securing" missions tend to spiral (as in Marines "securing" airbases in South Vietnam in 1965).