Russia Draws American Blood in Iran || Mar. 31, 2026
Iran was able to successfully strike Prince Sultan Air Base, which is a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia. And guess who supplied Iran with the targeting data necessary to carry out the strike? The Russians.
The strikes hit an E-3G Sentry, which is one of a limited number of AWACS the U.S. has in operation. These planes are used in drone and missile detection, so losing one of them is devastating. However, the more troubling aspect of this strike is Russia's involvement.
While Russia has a long-standing tradition of aiding any adversary of America, directly assisting attacks on U.S. forces is a major escalation. Oh, and still no response from the Trump administration on any of this.
Comments (78)
We did this for Ukraine right???
Ummm haven't we been aiding Ukraine in targeting packages for like 4 years at least off and on? Not saying we shouldn't or that the Russians aren't bad, but pots and kettles...
Still no response from Trump to Putin's aggression? That's like saying there's been no response from Darth Vader after Emperor Palpatine does something bad.
All these problems go away if you leave and stop this unprovoked violence
This reminds us that Putin is currently the President of the US.
I’m still curious Peter if the US has done anything right?
Trump killing America part...I don't know at this point....Let Russia and its allies degrade our Military as much as possible...
Russia is America’s oldest adversary? I’m pretty sure we fought a war or two with England, and the Barbary Pirates, before we got into a tiff with the USSR.
England and barbery pirates are no longer our adversaries. Hec, until recently England was actually an ally.
I'm disappointed with a lot of the commenters here making comments like; "...hypocrisy, had it coming, turnabout is fair play..." Yeah I think most everyone associated with the current Administration are morons (sorry morons out there) but, I agree with Peter's main message of ... loss of any American strength is BAD ... especially in these times (paraphrased)!
Of course this is totally predictable, the interesting thing is watching the Trump administration ignore it.
Unlike the USA providing targeting information for Ukrainian drones - actually killing Russian soldiers - for four years? Unlike US AWACS aircraft flying over the western borders of Ukraine - "protecting" NATO nations of course. To be clear, I am very pleased that they do so - but I find this crying hard done by - by Peter and sundry other US pundits to be hypocrisy. It is just fine and dandy that you provide similar intelligence to Russia's enemies - but cry foul when they do it to you? Really? What did you all expect?
We expected the administration of the United States of America, to respond to Russia helping Iran. We don’t expect the United States administration to act like an FSB agent. But collectively, 47 administration absolutely are operating as if they work for Vladimir Putin in the FSB. We’re calling out the hypocrisy of the United States administration 47. I think that was a massive swing and a massive mess on your part.
Echo of that Uke drone swarm out of shipping containers a while back that hit a bunch of Russian planes.
A little balance - what are the odds the US Govt has provided targeting info to Ukraine for Russian military assets? If we are going to be upset maybe we need to look at our own actions first.
So? The US (and Russia) made a security guarantee to Ukraine. The US has barely honored it. Russia has outright violated it. You're making a false equivalency here.
Pro-Russian in this case. Attacked for no reason, eat the consequences
While we're thinking magical thinks, I wonder how the karma from all this will fall out. I didn't think I'd ever be interested in more than my own household, but this stuff is finally starting to embarrass even me. "Sheeple" is starting to feel more and more usable as a frame for what I think about what I see. 🤦♂️
It's a flaw of human psychology in general, not one side or the other...I pity da fools, but also think it's dumb to hate or despise them, for they know not what they do.
Arguing for Putin using moral equivalence? Duly noted.
The Blackmail videos that the Russians have (and that (Mossad tricked out of the FSB ) have created a mess!
I'm sorry but it is not insightful to say, because X happens, haven't we been doing X, too? This is playground ethics in an analyst channel
I mean considering we've been doing the exact same thing in Ukraine for the past 4 years I don't know how it crosses any lines...it's a terrible development, but an expected one.
False equivalency. The context is much different.
Some US commanders heads will roll for this. Before and after sat photos show multi-engine US aircraft lined up on the tarmac like ducks in a shooting gallery. No revetments, minimal spacing. Idiots!
Yeah, it's almost like someone was bound to make a bunch of money on polymarket and in replacement contacts...
Does this reach the threshold of treason? You decide.
I'm not a lawyer, I'm a playground recess monitor. I make sure kids know when they get hit with the ball and cry, didn't they hit the other kids in dodgeball? BBOOOOMM..TRUTH NUKE
Didn’t we give that type of information to Ukraine? No surprise…
False equivalency. Context matters
What a waste of money to keep Trump out of jail.
Iran and Russia have been in bed with each other. What else would you expect? Maybe we just accidentally sink every Russian ballistic missile sub possible? Where does the tit for tat end? On the Road?
Many more strikes against US to come with assistance from Russia. Who knew?
Maybe Trump will change his mind and side against the Russians...
He MIGHT take some minor actions against Russia, but after one phone call from Putin he will fall back in line and take some other measures that will benefit Russia.
The Ukrainians use a network of old cell phones backed by AI to detect incoming planes and drones. - Here is Pete Seeger - https://www.google.com/search?q=song+from+vietnam+war+the+big+fool+says+push+on&oq=song+from+vietnam+war+the+big+fool+says+push+on&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRirAjIHCAMQIRiPAjIHCAQQIRiPAtIBCTI5ODk4ajFqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:df913ef0,vid:lxg5L9-Pg9I,st:0
Whilst I kind of appreciate this severity of the situation, is this really any difference to what the USA and Europe have been doing for Ukraine?
Not morally equivalent. Russia’s war in Ukraine isn’t just conventional fighting, it includes a pattern of state-backed war crimes: deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure, forced deportations, torture in occupied areas, and the organized removal of Ukrainian children to be “re-educated” and absorbed into Russia. That last one alone has been called a crime against humanity
It sucks when ur president is siding with the enemy.
I swear in two months it’s going to be the US Army and Marines are now digging trenches along the Iraqi Iranian border to stop a ground defensive from sweeping across the Arib states
Tactically doubtful from both sides. The US is not into digging, the Iraq/Iran border would be strategically pointless, and they can't project any advance into the P. Gulf. They're dug into their defensive tunnels and positions, which hold their supplies, and the problem is they're exposed to resupply unless some mega tunnel was missed by the CIA
Of course the U.S. is having issues with getting more interceptors. Hegseth signed off on a defense policy that mandates every small contractor pay up to 100k for "cybersecurity" to be eligible to bid on most manufacturing contracts, policy is CMMC 2.0. Mind you, all large contractors get their parts from small shops, and only 1k companies are certified, 80k need to be certified, and only 100 companies can certify. DoW only gave a year for everyone to get certified.
Hegseth is what happens when someone watches the movie starship troopers and doesn’t realize it’s satire.
This "war" was totally unnecessary. Yes Iran has been a pain in the ass for decades but it's economic harm was sporadic and limited. Our attack on them has put them on death ground and therefore nothing is off the table. With Russia supplying them with data their damage potential is much greater. Should we put boots on the ground there is a good possibility of a bloodbath. We simply don't have enough to do any meaningful strategic impact. A few thousand marines and airborne will do nothing other than provide easy targets for the Iranians. But hey, we call it the War Department now so that will make all the difference, right...? :(
They aren't on Death Ground, they are negotiating, sort of, even if its couched in claims of retributive Kamikaze attacks forever.
We are kicking their ass and the admin isn’t saying much about anything. Did you see the missile city at Isfahan that was detonated last night?
Successful bombing doesn't equal successful policy. We are bombing because of failed policy.
Time to watch the latest Puppet Regime from the UK, they seem to have a good handle on our global rulers' relationship dynamics!
I don't understand why this is unexpected... US has literally been doing that (and more actually) for the past 4 years in Ukraine. We are about to have two major powers catching up on proxy wars.
Agree. This should be 100% expected.
Time to take down their satelites
Never been done cleanly. The majority of satellites that would be affected by debris are US
I'm not sure there is no response - and the E-3 attack may have been a sort of response to what we may have done. I'd note that Ukraine has recently hit some very important parts of the Russian oil infrastructure and that we saw that after we were told Russia was supplying targeting data to Iran. In the past the USA has been known to block Ukraine from targeting similar infrastructure targets. So it is possible Trump punished Russia for supplying targeting data to Iran by giving Ukraine permission (and maybe targeting data) to hit places like Ust Luga - and the E-3 targeting/attack may have been a response for that. Could we see further escalation?
Interesting!
This was the most predictable escalation of events in the world. I bet Russia has been spoiling to engage in a full blown proxy war with the US for years now due to our involvement in Ukraine. It doesn't matter that Trump has largely withdrawn much of that support. He just happened to be the most useful of idiots to have walked right into Putin's trap. If I didn't know any better, I would say Putin was a silent instigator behind this entire war.
I’m sure this will be taken seriously as soon as Pete Hegseth sobers up.
Caroline Leavitt (WH press secretary) ducked the question totally with her usual style...
For more context on events like this, I’d recommend looking into analysts like Ryan Macbeth, who tend to break down tactics and sources in more detail. That said, one thing that stands out is how much modern warfare—especially from Ukraine—has emphasized drone and missile threats. If those lessons weren’t fully applied here, that’s something worth examining. At the same time, we don’t have full visibility into what actually happened or what constraints were in place. What does seem clear is that any successful strike on a U.S.-linked facility should trigger a serious review—both to understand what went wrong and to reduce the chances of it happening again.
I love how either Republicans or Democrats play into the false dichotomy that one president or another makes a difference.
The difference is it happened under GOP control. Occam's razor
Well, many things in this administration weren’t taken seriously and war is just one of them. So we’re kind of adequate here..(and it is barely a year passed)
Seems positive to me. Trump can't pretending Russia isn't an enemy.
You'd think so wouldn't you? But Trump is perfectly capable of claiming black is white and all/any forms of denying reality - he has been doing so routinely for years and it doesn't seem to have held him back from becoming POTUS. When will USA open it's eyes? Trump has been working for Putin all along - and doing a great job!
Job security for the MIC.
We have been giving Ukraine tactical information for year. Why is anyone surprised that Russia would return the favor???
No one is surprised your dear leader was dumb enough to walk right into that trap.
We are at the "find out stage" of why you don't have emotional man babies as the chief executive officer. I mean, imagine how worse it would have been if a woman was president. Right, right?
Or an old guy on the world's best designer drugs for cognitive enhancement, with full blood and plasma exchange with his grandchildren's platelets... now, we can still get there with DJT but he sort of hates doctors.
I'm all for hitting back at the Russians but haven't we been providing the Ukrainians with exactly the same kind of assistance in hitting the Russians? Isn't the Russian action here just retribution for what we have been doing to them? Regardless, I would favor punishing them for this but maybe we should throttle the outrage.
A nation betrayed by its leader... It's happened before elsewhere but I didn't pick the US as a likely victim of this problem. Until you-know-who came to power, twice.
TDS much?
Okay well this information came out like a week ago. Why are we just now reporting on this here? I know we are in information blackout by our own government. But if you keep your eyes open you can watch other sources who are reporting accurately
Amen. Have to actually look, but it’s out there.
who would have thought!
No point in asking Nero about this. He’ll just call the reporter “piggy” and talk about his ballroom.
Somebody needs to ask "Russia's Girlfriend" what she thinks about this...
Every AWACS aircraft is a national treasure…
Glad to see you up and around Peter 👍.