The Iran War Ramps Up || Bonus Video
The last 24 hours have brought the most sustained attacks from both sides since the conflict started. We could see this escalation spill into the Strait of Hormuz with mines and further maritime disruption. Trump will need to decide what success looks like in this war, and until such time, this is the new status quo.
Comments (59)
Zumwalt is DDG 1000. LCS is either Independence or Freedom
First salvo in the war against China?
Trump’s goal is to kill all of us native Americans fighting Israel’s enemy. After that trump will abandon the middle east as a loss leaving all our military assets for Israel. After that Israel pivots to Asia and becomes the center of the belt and road initiative as we fall into civil unrest and the Trump family moves to Israel since as Israel blatantly says “Trump is our first Jewish president”.
What if… the MIC is pissed that Trump and Whiskey Pete lost all the European military sales… this was is about giving the MIC a big contract to refill the military storehouses??
Anyone who thinks they are going to get a logical, coherent reason for waging the war from Orange Man is delusional. He and idiot council are incompetent.
The reckoning of decades over decades of neglecting to the us people of basic good education and healthcare and some form economic safety, finally came with this administration. A true culmination of stupidity, arrogance and a lot of capital to “boss” around.
Unless TACO is willing to intercept solid fuel ingredient and mixer shipments from China I don't see an end here.
Donald Trump - America's greatest ever mistake.
Actually, it was the mistake (or accident) of his parents, Fred and Mary Anne Trump
Regime change I would assume, but none of us will know because we are not in the planning room. This includes all the geopolitical prognosticators who don't know anymore than us nobody's.
"Planning room"?
The goal? It's about the Epstein files. Trump is deploying weapons of mass distraction!
Something to point out: one party can start a war, but both have to agree to end it. What are the chances Trump tries to declare victory and go home only to find that Iranian attacks continue?
If the Iranians mine the Strait, they can't move their own oil, which they need to pay for their own survival. Also, a non-war-like option is to simply blockade oil (and everything else) coming down the Gulf from Iran. Meanwhile, the Kurds, Israelis, ISIS, assorted Sunni countries, and even the many ethnic groups inside Iran have grudges to settle with the regime. I say, let them have a go at it. The way out for the USA to declare mission accomplished in about one month, announce a ceasefire for offensive activities, warn them to be nice, and see what happens. Anyway, it's better than no plan at all, I think.
What about the MAYUREE NAREE, Bangkok, that was just hit resulting in the crew having to evacuate
Why would you say the US doesn't have any mine clearing vessels ? There are 4 Avenger class mine clearing ships stationed in the region. You may want to do just a bit of research before making claims like that.
Re: Trump's "win condition" - its literally whatever he thinks! He could tell us "he won" tomorrow. What matters more now is what threshold Iran need to reach for them to STOP fighting. It won't be anytime soon as long as Israel keeps bombing.
Seriously? I have seen a lot of people make stupid wild ass guesses about what;'s going to happen by assuming things that nobody knows, but I didn't expect it from you Peter. With respect, let me help you. The administration was clear as a bell about their pobjectives from the start. Take out missile, drone, and nuke capability, back to the studs, and prevent them from funding the proxies. That was it, the whole thing. They then added that they'd like to see regime change, and the Iranian people should step and do that. Since then (the start of the war) they made various comments, which may as well be treated as misdirection aimed at the enemy. Trump was asked if we'd have boots on the ground and he said who knows - that is the only answer that anyone but an idiot would give to the press. So what can you actually conclude 10 days in to a war projected to take weeks? It seems to be on track, inasmuch as they are doing what they said and have accomplished a lot. Based only on the stated objectives of the war, I would assume that before they call it quits, having destroyed what they set out to, they will also take the Iranian oil offline unless there is clearly a path to regime change, so as to, prevent funding of proxies. If that doesn't happen then they will not have completed the mission but they will have achieved a lot. The media and the political opposition is frantic about high oil prices, get over it, it's a war, and there is NO chance of losing the war, and it will be over in a matter of weeks, and eventually oil will come down. Stop freaking out. I will freak out of Trump TACOs tomorrow and that can happen but I don't expect it and there is no evidence of it.
Hmmmm… didn’t Trump say it was regime change and then say it was because Iran tried to assassinate him? Didn’t Rubio say it was because we found out Israel was going to strike them?
Peter can you speak to the Centaurus system the Greeks are using? Can such a defense be mounted onto commercial ships?
Also - can we not use drone ships to clear mines?
Okay, this is a simple idea. Make a deal with Iran - either open up the Straits of Hormuz, or we will start destroying your oil infrastructure piece by piece. It’s a version of mutually assured destruction. Iran has everything to lose if we set back their oil industry by 10 years (including the funds to rebuild their nuclear capability) and we have a huge incentive for oil to start flowing again. Open for discussion is how and if we impound their oil tankers as they emerge from the SOH. Ted
Ted, it seems far preferable to keep Iran's oil infrastructure up and running so the new pro-West regime has source on income. I think the US and Israel will have to eliminate large, very large numbers of IRGC personnel to pave way for new regime. Sad to say, but this is what has come to.
The reasoning behind this war is simple: Epstein...
I am playing twilight zone music as I read your comment.
What you mean to say is that as soon as Bibbi defines ....
Zumwalt is a DDX not a Littoral combat ship. I believe the Independence class littoral class is/has been modified for mine sweeping. I could be wrong, perhaps they are doing the same to the three Zumwalt ships.
I believe you are correct.
Trump has no idea what he is doing nor how to stop this horrific war now that he has started it.
We clearly have not hit all the visible targets. Just bomb every single ship at anchor, moving, or in dry dock. Does not matter if the skip looks civilian adjacent. Iran will use them to deploy mines. No boats no mines.
Iran incentified to push until they have nukes: wasn't that what they have been doing all along?
Yes, but now they have a stronger incentive to build a bomb as quickly as possible. No Plan: Trump has committed to regime change. If the regime stays in power, they'll get the bomb. No regime, no bomb. He and Israel have committed us, IMO.
FWIW: The mine clearance assets in the Gulf area are Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), which are completely different from the big Zumwalt class destroyers (DDG-1000 class). The latter have nothing to do with mine clearance, or anything else bearing on this war.
Correct. I did not see your comment until after I made mine.
If the US has two (2) carrier strike groups in the area, how are the Iranians able to close the SoH?
The Mediterranean and Red Sea are not exactly "in the area."
Wonder how many Trump Cabinet and Family members took advantage of the false Wright report to clean up in the stock market. Do we still have a functioning SEC? Unlikely.
My thoughts exactly.
We will pivot to Cuba so that we can claim a win while blaming someone else for the failed ME conflict. I wonder what concessions if any will be given by China for this to end... If we continue to put Iran leadership on death ground I see no reason to think we can secure the SoH. If we are really committed to making life miserable for everyone else we will take Kharg Island and the SoH will be crapola for a very long time. Maybe we can build a wall around the SoH. Why don't we put our own mines in the SoH? Seems like we should be able to have a positive ID mine field that keeps the hostiles out of the SoH. Seems like this should have been step one...
Build a wall across SoH and Mexico will pay for it!
All this world economic chaos just to keep Bibi and Cheeto out of jail and loss the massive amounts of wealth. This world pays the price for a few leaders. March 28th, be there!
Six weeks mine-free before it can be declared clear? That’s genuinely a unique data point I haven’t seen elsewhere. What’s the source?
Sounds like an improvised response not based on any recent policy or doctrine that is discernable anywhere unless it is buried in some insurance policy document
I'm going to reiterate my previous hypothesis: based on the rhetoric about falling back to the Western hemisphere that has persisted since the start of the administration, I believe what we're doing is using the bases and logistics that surrounded Iran for the past 40 years in an effort to contain them, and "blowing our load" to do as much damage as possible to the military elements without completely collapsing their society and then bailing out... This allows Israel, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia etc to work together to manage what's left and decide how they want to handle future security, with the idea that Iranian leadership will be much more receptive to regional economic cooperation and security agreements.
Maybe... Seems to me that we are applying pressure and incentives for Putin to do a peace deal and come back to being a market participant. If all else fails the East will be at war with themselves so that the West can come in and make money rebuilding their countries and leadership. Seems like all of this is to improve the odds of Republican control since the other efforts are falling flat and Epstien is continuing to stain all that were dumb enough to play stupid games with him.
Just a reminder: Israel election - October 2026. US midterms election - November 2026. Maybe not a mystery after all. 🤔🤔🤔
Loose lips Sink ships.
Is that why Trump can’t stop blathering?
What's more interesting is how the straight was shut down by the insurance companies long before these attacks on actual ships. Question becomes how long will it take before they are willing to step back in and at what premium. Typically they like to wait 12-18 months, which is a long time to not have oil and fertilizer sailing.
Trump + 13 year old girl = War with Iran. Trump + Grown Up 13 year old girl shows up in person = Insurrection Act and Cancellation of Elections. Trump + Photographic or Video evidence of 13 year old girl or pee tape = nuclear war with North Korea
I’m so glad we got rid of all experts and have a single stable enlightened despot running the place. See how cleanly we can now solve complex problems
Trumps playing 8D chess ♟️ 😂😂😂 we are all to stupid to understand
The end goal was to get epstein out of the headlines again....
Operation Epstein Fury, not "Epic" Fury
I'm sure there are plenty of schools, hospitals, and orphanages that the US can still target.
Hopefully all of them and soon.
You forgot "get rid of the Epstein" headlines.
Yeah. Interesting how he never mentions this or the influence of Israel on U.S. decision making throughout all of this.
Thanks Peter!