The 2k or so marines sailing toward Iran from the Pacific, leaving two weeks after the war started for some reason, are not numerous enough to take and hold contested land, like Kharg Island, without heavy casualties. They may be able to make a beachhead in the province of Baluchestan where: the land is further away from the Strait of Hormuz, further away from Tehran, the US has better air supremacy, a landing would be surrounded by open lands where an Iranian attack could be easily seen, and the locals may be sympathetic because they are a different ethnic group and religion than the Persians and already have separatist rebels.
Trump initially said he was a militaristic guy but that he was against dumb wars like the war in Iraq. He later shifted to a more peace-focused rhetoric when he realized that was popular. But, he never had a strong belief in peace and always believed in the use of leverage and military force.
An F-35 may have been hit by an Iranian anti-air missile. The plane and pilot survived, making it safely to a base in the Middle East. Stealth makes the F-35 harder to detect and hit, but not invisible. If a video given by Iran purporting to be the F-35 getting hit is real, then it looks like a smaller payload delivered by a relatively short-ranged infrared or electro-optically guided weapon, or even a shoulder fired missile. If a radar guided weapon targeted it, the plane would sense it and the pilot would be trying to avoid it. And if larger, longer-range weapons hit it, the plane would not have survived that size of payload.
Ukraine’s drone killers are much cheaper than many US interceptors, and the US and Gulf countries are running out of such interceptors, so want these cheaper Ukranian drone killers to defend against Iranian drones.
The Iran war has been great for Russia so far. It’s oil is worth more thanks to the war. Some sanctions on its oil have been lifted by Trump as he tries to lower gas prices. The many munitions used by the US in the war mean there are fewer for the Europeans to buy for Ukraine. It allows Russia and China to go around the world saying how evil the US is, unjustly attacking a global south country.
Despite Iran’s military and leadership being battered badly, Iran is likely willing to outlast the US. Many Iranians, even one’s who do not like the regime, may see the US and Israel as trying to destroy Iran, and may support fighting and not giving in to Trump’s demands. Iran has aggressive goals of its own–to convince the gulf states that the US isn’t there to protect them, but to act aggressively toward Iran, and to reject US protection in the future.
Iran’s regime is fighting for its life. The US is fighting for potential security benefits. The US is likely to give up first even if its military is winning the war. Iran will likely get nukes now, because of this attack.
Iran is predictably limiting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as a result of Trump’s attack on Iran, sending oil prices higher. Removing the Jones Act won’t move the needle while the war drives oil prices higher.
Traitor terrorists are striking the US homeland, likely inspired by attacks on Iran. These deaths are likely deaths in the war on Iran.
“First, a deadly shooting being investigated as terrorism devastated a Virginia university in a military town. Hours later, a targeted vehicle-ramming attack on a Michigan synagogue left congregants shaken to their core.
The shooting at Virginia’s Old Dominion University was committed by a veteran who was a convicted ISIS supporter. The attacker was able to kill one person and injure two others before a classroom of ROTC students subdued and killed him, the FBI said.
Then, a vehicle rammed into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township in an attack the FBI said targeted the Jewish community, carried out by a US citizen who was born in Lebanon, the Department of Homeland Security said. The synagogue had been on high alert for potential violence in the weeks before the building became engulfed in flames after the suspect drove through it with a rifle and a large number of explosives, officials said.
Though the motive in the attack is still unknown, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said there is a clear “nexus” between the Iran war and the attack, adding it’s no coincidence the suspect targeted a synagogue named Temple Israel.
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Less than two weeks earlier in Austin, Texas, a shooter wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the Iranian flag killed three people and injured over a dozen others in the city’s bustling entertainment district. Though the motive is still under investigation, authorities are investigating whether the shooter was inspired in part by US and Israeli strikes on Iran that weekend, multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the case said.”