The U.S. Prepares for Strikes on Iran || Feb. 25, 2026
The U.S. appears to be preparing for a large-scale air campaign against Iran. Here's the rundown.
There are two supercarriers in the region and 60 aircraft in Jordan, giving the U.S. the capacity to strike hundreds of targets quickly. Iran doesn't really have a hand to play here; they can't defend themselves, their oil doesn't support U.S. allies anymore, and any support from Russia and China wouldn't meaningfully change the outcome.
Comments (46)
What I found most interesting is that the US moved A-10’s into Oman.
This is NOT about saving Iran. This is being Israel's bitch.
Sure bro!
How well can our military defend against drone activity coming from Iran?
Unless China has given Iran an anti-ship ballistic missile specifically designed to sink US aircraft carriers.
This is more about weakening BRICS, which seems like an easier goal now that Iran is more or less indefensible and Russia is tied down with Ukraine.
Doesn’t Iran have super Innovative FPV drones though? Should we expect complete annihilation of the U.S. fleet?
Has anyone brought up the Russian and Chinese exercises in the area? I’ve heard it from a few places but haven’t seen an analysis of how close it is in real terms.
Peter, I think you may be missing what Trump is likely hoping to achieve here: regime change to something U.S.-aligned. He's likely hoping U.S. airpower plus the local insurgency, and I guess Artesh, is enough. Iran is probably hoping to stall until the midterms. Along with Venezuela, a friendly Iran would probably end OPEC as a meaningful force? And give Trump and the west generally much more leverage against Russia. The 'win button' for the Ukraine war has always been stopping Russian shadow fleet exports. It's not exactly hard, since Russia has no ability to project the force needed to protect those ships. The trouble is that would spike the price of oil, and Trump likes his oil cheap. I'm not saying a regime change without widespread chaos is realistic, but the admin is probably trying to talk to friendlier would-be successors within Iran? Like Delcy Rodríguez in VZ.
Regime alteration, which Trump is apparently trying to do in Venezuela--the final score likely won't be tallied for at least a few years--is highly unlikely to be achieved in Iran. First, Iran is a significantly larger country with over 90mil people. Second, the supporters of the Iran regime number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, and they are Shia fundamentalists that have been in power since 1979, twice as long as the Chavez/Maduro regime has in Venezuela.
Send in the USS Epstein! Busy beast she has been...
"The Washington-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which tallies only victims it can identify, has reported at least 6,800 protest-related deaths, with an additional 11,744 cases..." https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/02/25/opinion/iran-protests-doctors.html
It is peak hubris for Trump to bring our most advanced aircraft carrier within striking range of their anti-ship missiles...probability might only be 1% that they effectively slip one through aegis and phalanx systems, but many tragedies in history have occurred under far worse odds.
Good strategic recap of area and known cause /effect of US action if diplomacy fails.
Just hope a USS Stark scenario does not develop to start other events.
The Mullahs have proven their enduring enthusiasm for violence in the Middle East and beyond. That is the strategic interest. Not oil.
Between Venezuela and Iran wouldn’t the Chinese lose reliable sources of 2 million barrels a day, and become more dependent on states with stronger western ties for energy?
The Russian shadow fleet is also under pressure. It just seems like America is tightening the energy noose on China
Given that DJT is a "Russian asset", will he give Putin all the military plan details ahead of the strike? #russiancollusion #putinpuppet #trumpdupeconomics
I assume this is a rhetorical question designed to deny the "Russian asset" claim. It certainly points to Trump's bifurcated world-view: He's clearly sympathetic to Israel and some Arab gulf states as well.
It seems to me the best course of action for everybody is a negotiated settlement. Iran has a weak hand, but they still have the chance to remain economically viable. I don’t like the fact that this is a heavy handed approach from the American Epstein class, but at the same time, we really do not want Iran to become the new Syria.
Carey seriously, "they don't seem too concerned," haven't you been paying attention?
As soon as Iran goes down, the conflict between Saudi/Turkey/Pakistan vs UAE/Israel/India starts.
Very interesting take.
And no mention of the Board of peace doing anything, considering most the members are from the region.
Putin is undoubtedly watching this closely. The U.S. response to Iran has placed a significant concentration of American and allied military power near Russia’s borders. There’s no sign Washington is seeking confrontation, but proximity alone matters. It signals that the United States and NATO are fully capable of handling multiple crises at once. In that context, testing NATO’s resolve becomes a far riskier proposition — and that, by itself, is deterrence
Timing is everything. Iran must be getting closer to a nuke. Otherwise, why bother is what you’re saying, correct? Agree that this action, if taken, would require congressional approval and violate (?) international law, but that’s where we’re at…sad
Distract from problems at home. Help midterms
If the winners here in a decapitated Iran are the other Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc, is that simply a residual impact of the strikes or is that one of the central points of the strikes given all the graft benefitting the Trump regime from those countries? I no longer look at foreign policy through the eyes of US interests. Foreign policy in this regime is what it does for the personal finances of the regime.
POTUS isn't getting his way in Ukraine, SCOTUS is smacking his knuckles, MAGA is rebelling, Congress may have found its spine, the economy is a mess, and the Epstein file won't go away. He needs a major distraction. Iran is fucked.
Normally, I would agree, but the amount of airpower is significant, and there will be more than just airstrikes. Israel is chomping at the bit, and the population is primed. Massad and the CIA are already in the country and have supplied Starlink terminals to the pissed-off population that has sworn vengeance against the Ayatollah's regime.
Good. Send Iran back to the Stone Age. Throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, Iran’s IRGC-Quds Force waged a systematic shadow war against coalition forces. In Iraq, Tehran armed Shia militias with EFPs that killed over 600 American and numerous British troops, trained insurgent cells, and orchestrated attacks through proxies including Kata’ib Hezbollah and the Mahdi Army. In Afghanistan, Iran supplied weapons, funding, and training to Taliban and other insurgent groups despite ideological hostility, purely to bleed the coalition. Across both theatres, Soleimani’s network treated American and British servicemen as legitimate targets while Tehran maintained plausible deniability, a sustained campaign of state-sponsored killing that was never meaningfully answered. The regime deserves to be destroyed. This is payback time.
Sentimentally, I am all for that. But, US law and the Constitution, international law and diplomacy suggest a higher standard to justify wiping them off the face of the earth.
It’s not that thinking hasn’t caught up I think it has which is why we don’t care about the region anymore. This is a final FUCK YOU to Iran.
My opinion is the USA does not have, or at least has not presented, a just cause for war on Iran. So, any form of attack is a no go. I understand the deployment may be a negotiation tactic. If so, it's a very expensive ploy. There may be some rational well thought out geo-politcal maneuver going on here, but of course, Trump is not the one to explain it, or do it right.
You only have to explain military strikes to a population who actually give a shit. Who in America is demanding Trump explain or present evidence. It’s kinda a bipartisan issue UNLESS of course U.S aircraft are shot down bases are hit killing hundreds of American service members THAN yea the president will have to explain WTF he was doing.
Doesn't Iran have hyper sonic missiles? You dunt think a,few of those get thru to isreal and a US base or ship?
All the bad actors seem to have hypersonic missiles on the Web. But please keep in mind that all ballistic missiles are hypersonic. So, so what? They will be dealt with. Trump may be an idiot, but he won't be micromanaging the military as Hitler did in WWII.
Thank you Peter - -
They are giving Iran more reasons to get its nuclear bomb
They don't need any more reasons to obtain nuclear weapons, and you're assuming that the regime will still be around to do it. It won't. That's the point of Trump's third Special Military Operation. No ayatollahs, no bomb.
So just say we unload all of our hardware on our task forces that we have in region. How long is it going to take us to replace that? And so say we have it on hand how much do we have in inventory after that? China's got to be salivating
RIP 50 U.S.C. 1541–1548 You will be remembered like many things close to the TroTUS, consistently violated and far too young. I heard a Senator praising the consolidation of executive power saying something like “Well, Congress just takes too long when it comes to declaring war and we need to surprise our enemies!” On Bloomberg TV, which I’m sure some Iranians have access to. In a world where like 15 year olds play “Where’s the U.S.S. Ford” instead of Waldo on Maritime Traffic, I think that argument goes out the window.
Ah, yes, one of Trump's loyal sycophants in Congress. Wants to make sure he's not primaried.
doesn’t this make oil more expensive for China? I assumed that was the point of the administration’s actions, in addition to continuing to enrich middle east allies by raising the value of their exports to China.
There IS a point?