Hopefully, those THAADs dont return back to Korea.
2026 Israel - Iranian conflict [TEMP LOCKED]
- Thread starter doggydogdo
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You know this recent war showed the US is spread thin from its overextended coverage in the world.
I kinda get why in games like total war, once your army size reaches a certain size, it becomes very agonizing to maintain it and the cost becomes almost impossible. Combine this with the fact, US weapons are expensive I expect the US to do a lot of "transfers" around the world at the costs of others.
I kinda get why in games like total war, once your army size reaches a certain size, it becomes very agonizing to maintain it and the cost becomes almost impossible. Combine this with the fact, US weapons are expensive I expect the US to do a lot of "transfers" around the world at the costs of others.
There aren't going to be Revolutions in the Gulf States tbf. As much as incompetent their monarchies are, much of their lower class being constituted of indentured workers that have almost no rights and being rendered powerless for even basic things by their authorities.
With regards to Hegseth's comment about "not ruling out ground troops" - I don't think we should over-interpret that statement. It doesn't necessarily mean an OIF-style invasion, or a buildup to such an invasion. I think it could mean a few possibilities:
1. Rhetorical toughness - you don't want to tie your own hands during a war, & tell the enemy about your limits. You always want the enemy to think that you still have every option on the table.
2. Spec ops raids vs missile facilities, coastal defense missile batteries (to reduce the Hormuz closure threat), etc.
3. Decapitation raids vs key enemy personnel.
EDIT: 4. Limited occupation of small pieces of Iranian territory to cultivate terrorist forces, & build a staging area for further regime change ops, as was done in Syria.
I'm not claiming that I "know" what will happen or the best course forward for the US, I'm just outlining some potential options available to them at the moment.
1. Rhetorical toughness - you don't want to tie your own hands during a war, & tell the enemy about your limits. You always want the enemy to think that you still have every option on the table.
2. Spec ops raids vs missile facilities, coastal defense missile batteries (to reduce the Hormuz closure threat), etc.
3. Decapitation raids vs key enemy personnel.
EDIT: 4. Limited occupation of small pieces of Iranian territory to cultivate terrorist forces, & build a staging area for further regime change ops, as was done in Syria.
I'm not claiming that I "know" what will happen or the best course forward for the US, I'm just outlining some potential options available to them at the moment.
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What happens if things keep escalating and don't stop for half a year causing a food shortage and no income from natural resource sales?
To be fair though, that they actually have that option says a lot. Just how it says a lot that they have to fall back on this option right now. It's certainly an advantage when you can easily and comparatively rapidly redistribute your assets on a global scale. But the fact that they have to do this now, despite several weeks of build up, as well as having had the luxury of choosing when they start the war, shows how badly they miscalculated. They thought Iran would simply fold because their head of state and a couple other officials were killed. That Iran has build their entire doctrine around such a possibility must've occured to them, but they thought this would be enough anyway.
Let's remember that the Trump administration always responds to critical questions like that with statements like "i can't confirm nor deny that", they answered the same time thing in situations like the Venezuelan crisis whenever a journo asked them about the military options. It's like some type of strategical ambiguity
You talk as though the only way to determine American capability is what they say.
The entire Iranian army has nothing to do right now.
Sending in special forces just means they get wiped out, or worse paraded before getting hanged
You don't need Trump to say anything to know that's not an option.
I'm not suggesting that any of these are "good" options that will yield "good" outcomes for the US, nor am I saying their statements are the only ways to determine their actions, I'm just brainstorming possibilities.
But the problem is that the US and Israeli strikes has pretty much depleted Iran's conventional military assets (fighter jet, naval ships, anti-air batteries). Leaving them now would be a golden opportunity for Iran to quickly buy Russian and Chinese equipment to re-arm.
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