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Iran Super Thread- Merged

One of the problems he has is that there's no incentive for the Iranians to quit. They won't disengage. They'll keep holding the Strait hostage. May even keep attacking US forces. If you're the IRGC, this is your moment to leverage concessions.

But I also suspect that he is scared of casualties. He knows what that did to Bush's popularity. He ran against Clinton painting her as a warmonger. And he knows what hell there will be if Democrats sweep the midterms.

So he's trying to square the circle here. Look tough while backing out and not getting blamed for the massive mess being left behind.
 
There will be a decisive outcome in the next few days.
… but I don’t believe the US is ready to do anything that will lead to a decisive outcome.

Looks like the winds are dropping by this weekend, suitable for parachute operations...

 
Looks like the winds are dropping by this weekend, suitable for parachute operations...

Why in the world would they do it as a parachute drop? If they take those islands it’ll initially be by helicopter airlift, after they’re satisfied they pounded the piss out of any and all defenses. Those air strikes will be the tell it’s about to happen.
 
A token land force to seize a token objective that is isolated from mainland is not a decisive moment. Even with that, we have one member of the administration promising more of the same but harder while the president appears to be laying groundwork for a TACO.

The TACO would be the worst potential outcome for global democracies … I don’t know what the least damaging path for the US itself would be.
 
Why in the world would they do it as a parachute drop? If they take those islands it’ll initially be by helicopter airlift, after they’re satisfied they pounded the piss out of any and all defenses. Those air strikes will be the tell it’s about to happen.

"Because we can" seems to be an operating style for this administration ;)
 
If they take those islands it’ll initially be by helicopter airlift, after they’re satisfied they pounded the piss out of any and all defenses.

If they actually destroy the infrastructure on Kharg, it loses value as a bargaining chip.

The TACO would be the worst potential outcome for global democracies … I don’t know what the least damaging path for the US itself would be.

Abandoning the Gulf allies to Iran is the worst outcome for American credibility. A month ago, the Strait was open and safe. Now, it's essentially confirmed as Iranian dominated. The IRGC is confirmed as unremovable. Nightmare for the Gulf States who have to cut a deal basically accepting Iranian primacy over the Strait and the Gulf. They may even be compelled into ending American basing and the petrodollar, when China eventually helps along negotiations.....
 
Looks like the winds are dropping by this weekend, suitable for parachute operations...

Onto an island?
From quickly looking at a Google map of Kharg Island, from my civilian eye the potential drop zone looks to be more more than 1-1,200 meters wide and maybe 2,000 meters long at best. Would someone really drop 3-500+ troops and into an area that small on an island in a hostile environment?
 
Onto an island?
From quickly looking at a Google map of Kharg Island, from my civilian eye the potential drop zone looks to be more more than 1-1,200 meters wide and maybe 2,000 meters long at best. Would someone really drop 3-500+ troops and into an area that small on an island in a hostile environment?

Every day before breakfast, if required, weather permitting ;)

Dispatching from 450ft AGL is recommended though.
 
If they actually destroy the infrastructure on Kharg, it loses value as a bargaining chip.
Correct. I’m talking about taking out the island’s defenders in preparation for a landing.

I still think landing on Kharg would be stupid and would likely result in a bunch of U.S. deaths to fires from the mainland.

What we don’t see and what I suspect is happening and is a big factor is back channel work from the Chinese making it clear that cutting off their flow of Iranian oil would cause them to take very painful retaliatory actions. China still has a hand around a number of economic throats and could really make some things suck for America if they needed to.
 
The U.S. has been knocking on NATO doors asking them to move air defences to the Gulf.

The moment that Poland did that, Russia would be taking advantage of it - 100%.

Those that were saying before that the US had planned this operation out and that all was well are pretty quiet right now.
 
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