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Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

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431–440 of 1001 posts

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#431

Trita Parsi of RS had been saying weeks in advance that the Iranians would retaliate against gulf states collaborating with/supporting the US & Israel, would close the Strait of Hormuz, and would continue fighting until it established a pain threshold had been reached and acknowledged by its enemies, in order to prevent yet more "short wars". Iran's previous retaliations that were well choreographed and coordinated i…

Trita Parsi is an Iranian government lobbyist. Of course he would say that.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#432
post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this instance, a flight of B-52's could wipe the concrete shielded missiles off the face of the Earth. Start off with F18s to secure the skies, then B52s to pound the missiles, then the Navy could stroll back in. It's just that no one has had the gumption to do it until now.

The US military did exactly that two weeks ago: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5789279-strait-hormuz-oil... If it was as effective as you presume, the strait would have been open by now.

That was step one. The article doesn't even state the results of the bombing

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#433
post #333
post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this instance, a flight of B-52's could wipe the concrete shielded missiles off the face of the Earth. Start off with F18s to secure the skies, then B52s to pound the missiles, then the Navy could stroll back in. It's just that no one has had the gumption to do it until now.

Ok general, the armchair is that way

Awesome content. Added a lot to the discussion

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is not really backed up by reality. Pretty much the whole US operation so far, destroying much of Iran's military and leadership was done from US carriers. If anything it demonstrates how powerful they are. The country with 0.3% of global spending in military is putting a noticeable dent in assets of country that has 35% of global spending in military and are begging allies for help coz they can't even stop the dro…

The issues the US faces are political and humanitarian (and economic) rather than military. I don't see any compelling evidence that the US couldn't open the straits if it really wanted to, it's just that the cost in lives and hardware would be unlike anything the US has seen since Vietnam, maybe even the second world war. And of course, once you open the strait, you have to keep it open. The whole thing is a lose-lo…

Given you compare the cost of a US operation to open the straits to the Vietnam War, it seems prudent to mention that the outcome of the Vietnam war, according to Wikipedia, was a North Vietnam victory.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#436

A big mistake here was simply underestimating the scale of Iran. Iran has 90,000,000 people. More than 2x Ukraine. More than 2x Germany. More than 2x Iraq. More than any country in Europe. About 2/3 of Russia. Expecting to win a war on the cheap was a fantasy. Especially since Iran has been fighting Israel for years. On the naval front, Ukraine sunk the Moskva with a few truck-mounted missiles. That finally made it u…

Germany has 80+ mil inhabitants. Also 90,000,000 people doesn't mean 90,000,000 soldiers, especially when a large part of them hate their own regime.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#437
post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an alliance - the Russians are supplying Iran with intelligence and material. It's just that Trump is Putin's biggest fan for some reason.

Ability to recognize sarcasm is missing

In Ukraine, the USA and Russia are definitely allied. So sarcasm misplaced, I think.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#438

A big mistake here was simply underestimating the scale of Iran. Iran has 90,000,000 people. More than 2x Ukraine. More than 2x Germany. More than 2x Iraq. More than any country in Europe. About 2/3 of Russia. Expecting to win a war on the cheap was a fantasy. Especially since Iran has been fighting Israel for years. On the naval front, Ukraine sunk the Moskva with a few truck-mounted missiles. That finally made it u…

> Worst outcome is the US attacks Cuba, Cuba allies with Iran, it turns out that Cuba has been stocking up on Iranian drones, and Cuba becomes a forward base for drone and missile attacks on the southern US.

If this happens and Cuba decides to launch drones/missiles against the US homeland, it's not an exaggeration to say that Cuba is flattened and invaded that same afternoon. After 9/11, there's no world in which any attack on the US homeland, however small or local, is met with anything other than overwhelming retribution.

Having difficulty projecting force from the air with fighter bombers launched from air craft carriers and refueling caravans from the Indian Ocean or Mediterranean Sea against a determined enemy that has been preparing for this eventuality since 1979 is one thing. Being able to fly non-stop B-52 and B-2 sorties from home air bases with single-digit-hour flight times is a different thing entirely.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#439
post #230

In chapter 11 of All Quiet on the Western Front Paul and his unit find an abandoned food cache in the middle of no mans land. Instead of secreting away the food back to their lines where they will have to share it, they decide to just cook and eat it right then and there. But a spotter plane from the allies sees the smoke and then begins shelling their position. Cue a terrifying, if hilarious, scene where the soldier…

It’s difficult to imagine something more psychologically damaging than WWI trenches. Where can we read more about this?

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks is largely about WWI, including trench warfare. And it's an excellent book, very moving & vivid.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#440
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a strong majority of the united states citizens are against the war, despite a full court propaganda press against the right and a no-kings distraction op against the left https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/03/25/americans-br... don't confuse american citizens with the bought-and-paid talking & tweeting heads we are forced to live with

"No Kings" isn't a distraction, it's very tangible popular opposition, and they're certainly not in favor of the war?

Imagine being king of a gulf monarchy watching the "no kings" protests. Probably censored.
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