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Iran caused more extensive damage to U.S. military bases than publicly known
- KevinMS 6mo agoThey consider these bases expendable and nonessential, maybe even just political gestures.
- ndisn 6mo ago[flagged]
- system2 6mo agoIt is hard to understand why the U.S. cares about a random Middle Eastern country called Israel this much. Why not Zimbabwe or Thailand, but Israel? Weird stuff. I hope America comes back to its senses and stops dealing with these people.
- sosomoxie 6mo agoThe American people are well on their way to this realization. The problem is in our government, media and executive class, which are fully Zionist occupied.
- actionfromafar 6mo ago... government, media and executive class and a huge chunk of voters all in on Holy War.
- basisword 6mo agoExcellent propaganda and god knows how much blackmail. Just look at the US cities lighting up monuments etc. to celebrate Israeli independence day. And this during a war the majority of US citizens don't support.
- LePetitPrince 6mo ago[dead]
- legacynl 6mo agoIn essence it's not about Israel itself, but rather that the US wants an ally in the region that they can use to project power in the middle east. Of course nowadays there's mutual interests and lobbying, so the choice for Israel is very much set in stone, but in another universe it could have been a different country.
- krapp 6mo ago>It is hard to understand why the U.S. cares about a random Middle Eastern country called Israel this much. Study the links between the American military industrial complex and Evangelical Christianity, in particularly the latter's view of Israel's role in end-times prophecy, and you'll get your answer.
- general1465 6mo agoYou are getting downvoted, but you are correct. USA is failing in separation of church and the state and now it is going to have a war because ancient book said so.
- tialaramex 6mo agoYeah. I think the instinct is "But that's batshit!" and like, yeah, that's exactly the problem. To be fair to the ancient book, at that time it would have been understood by intellectuals that it's not a prediction of future events, it's a message to them about their past and present, not a message to us about our future. So us blaming the book, not the crazy people is the same mistake as if we were screaming at the author of "Don't Create the Torment Nexus". The author was writing fiction, the critics knew it was fiction, most of the readers knew it was fiction, the problem is that billionaire tech bro who thought it was a message from God telling them they need to spend $100Bn to create a Torment Nexus.
- krapp 6mo agoThe Secretary of War, a Christian nationalist and white supremacist, has framed the war in Iran as a holy war to bring about the End Times. Many people in the government have said they consider America's military support of Israel to be an absolute Christian obligation. JD Vance and the President want to create a new Catholicism with blackjack and hookers and holy Zionist warfare because the Pope disagrees with them. We live in batshit times.
- dgellow 6mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism
- djeastm 6mo agoIt kind of made sense (strategic, if not moral) when we were a booming country very dependent on Middle Eastern oil in the last half of the 20th century and wanted to have a strong ally in the region. Makes less sense recently though. Then perhaps Israel has surmised that the US might not be interested in sticking around and decided to make their play while they had an ally in the White House.
- bambax 6mo agoIsrael is "western" outpost in the Middle East. It's not a random country. It's a colonial power with a geopolitical mission.
- oa335 6mo agomy thesis is that the IRGC has successfully established deterrence by demonstrating relative resilience against US attacks (still have boats and missiles), ability to meaningfully strike US bases and its Allies, and willingness to sacrifice a lot of Irans civilian infrastructure. its hard to sift through the propaganda on both sides, but I haven't yet seen anything to disprove this convincingly. anyone else?
- karmakurtisaani 6mo agoI also believe they have the upper hand as they are willing to play the long game. It's like when Russia attacked Ukraine, they gambled on taking Kiev with paratroopers on the first few days. Didn't work and they got stuck. It will be ironic if Iran gets a stronger position than they had before the war as a consequence of a peace treaty.
- ajross 6mo agoIt's not really an "if". Iran is in a stronger geopolitical position (than the one they held before the war) today. Any deal they make can only improve things for them, by definition (or else they wouldn't take it). That's precisely the trap the Trump administration has created for itself. If the only way out is to lose, then you've already lost. And Iran knows it.
- karmakurtisaani 6mo agoI agree that they have this strong position now, but the war is not over yet. I doubt they'll lose it in any meaningful way, but still it remains to be seen how they manage to capitulate it in a possible peace deal.
- ajross 6mo agoAgain, they don't have to capitulate. They hold all the cards. The world needs that strait open, and 100%, undeniably, without any question at all will pay Iran tolls to get it. To the extent that this ends in military action, it's going to be the rest of the world protecting the Iranian toll regime from USA piracy. Even Trump won't pull that trigger. Watch for the TACO.
- sosomoxie 6mo ago[flagged]
- coredev_ 6mo agoCan you please provide sources for your claims.
- themafia 6mo agohttps://thegrayzone.com/2026/02/01/guardian-iranian-death-toll-concocted-monarchist-doctors/ https://thegrayzone.com/2026/02/01/guardian-iranian-death-to... https://thegrayzone.com/2026/01/12/western-media-riots-iran-govt-regime-change/ https://thegrayzone.com/2026/01/12/western-media-riots-iran-...
- sosomoxie 6mo agoWhich one? There’s no proof that any of Israel’s claims were ever true. It’s on them to provide proof, which they of course have not. If you want to see Tel Aviv or US bases getting hit, go search Twitter. There are thousands of videos. While you’re their look at the tens of thousands of videos of the IDF committing war crimes.
- actionfromafar 6mo agoHow many protestors were killed?
- sosomoxie 6mo agoNone? They killed a bunch of Zionist infiltrators but certainly not 50,000 in a few days, producing zero proof.
- actionfromafar 6mo agoThousands of Zionist infiltrators perhaps?
- basisword 6mo agoNot surprising. In years to come I'm sure we'll find the USG has lied as much to the public during this war as Russia and North Korea would to their citizens. The "laundry fire". The pilot "rescue". The lack of transparency on injuries and casualties. Look at Netanyahu's recent health issues. He didn't lie - he 'delayed the report'.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 6mo agoI think they just have a different strategy and goals than we in the West expect. We seem to think if we just kill a lot more of their guys that victory is certain but that's not the case.
- statguy 6mo agoThis has massive strategic implications for the US. The US couldn't protect its bases in the middle east from a middle power like Iran and in fact its bases were the reason that its "allies" in the gulf were attacked. Iran would have no reason to attack those allies otherwise. The US has also shown that Israel is the only ally that it really cares about. Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Australia are taking notes. Prediction: there is not going to be a war over Taiwan - Taiwan will gradually come to a Hong Kong like agreement with China.
- actionfromafar 6mo agoThat's a pretty wild prediction - Taiwan is also a middle power and could beef up if it wants to.
- peruvia 6mo ago[dead]
- nradov 6mo agoNah. Seeing how China reneged on the "one country, two systems" promise and wrecked Hong Kong has turned the Taiwanese people more firmly against reunification. Iran would be attacking other nearby states regardless of whether they host US military bases. Iran has a long history of aggression, including sponsoring terrorist groups. Personally I favor a less interventionist US foreign policy but even if we completely disengaged from the Middle East it would still be a violent neighborhood — probably even more so.
- pazimzadeh 6mo ago> Iran has a long history of aggression, including sponsoring terrorist groups The US has a longer history of aggression and sponsoring terrorist groups: Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-prove-america-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-pro... During the Iran–Iraq War, which began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980,[1] the United States adopted a policy of providing support to Iraq in the form of several billion dollars' worth of economic aid, dual-use technology, intelligence sharing (e.g., IMINT), and special operations training.[2] This U.S. support, along with support from most of the Arab world, proved vital in helping Iraq sustain military operations against Iran.[3] The documented sale of dual-use technology, with one notable example being Iraq's acquisition of 45 Bell helicopters in 1985,[4][5] was effectively a workaround for a ban on direct arms transfers; U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East dictated that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism because of the Iraqi government's historical ties with groups like the Palestinian Liberation Front and the Abu Nidal Organization, among others.[6] However, this designation was removed in 1982 to facilitate broader support for the Iraqis as the conflict dragged on in Iran's favour. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq...
- _alternator_ 6mo ago[flagged]
- LePetitPrince 6mo ago[dead]
- pram 6mo agoOne thing I noticed in the videos on Twitter of quadcopter type drones being flown into US bases in Iraq, is there doesn't seem to be any current defense. They were flying around with impunity, taking their time looking for a target. It's definitely scary.
- general1465 6mo agoIt could be either unused base (Camp Victory in Iraq) or fiber optic drones, which are effectively invisible for current systems because you need to have good enough radar to see them thanks to their size and used material and they are not having any RF emissions like usual FPV drone would have
- throwawaypath 6mo agoThose are not US bases, those were Iraqi Armed Forced bases.
- tim333 6mo agoThere's a lot of that going on in the Ukraine war. Defenses include other drones to take out the attacking drones, shooting them down and cutting communications to them.
- consumer451 6mo agoThe US defense industry is trying to build shareholder value. The Ukrainian defense industry is fighting for its life. Here is the craziest thing in Ukraine. We don't even have terms for this, it looks like "air-launched high-speed quad-copter interceptor?" https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:v7762wvbhnna4t4gptkbjogc/post/3mk6m5yrrvs2i https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:v7762wvbhnna4t4gptkbjogc/po...
- Bender 6mo agoI would expect more of this. Most of Iran's military infrastructure is deep under 500 to 800 meters of hard rock, heavily funded by US tax dollars bully lunch money and the oil industry. Most everyone else's military infrastructure is mostly on the surface just begging for attention. My personal preference would have been that the US had built it's bases in the same manor is Iran or better. At least I think we could have possibly done better. Keeping most infrastructure under ground means less dependency on power for cooling, more surface land for other functions. Maybe put some earth-bermed greenhouses on the surface and grow some produce for the locals.
- philipwhiuk 6mo agoYou can't rapidly scale up an FOB under 800m of rock and you can't land planes underground.
- Bender 6mo agoFor sure no fast FOB but they can store planes underground and they can be towed out and prepped fast just as they are doing with their missiles today. The wings come off rather easily. My remote site ordered one by mistake from the old CAMS system. The driver was just as confused as we were. I should add that one way to think of it is that Iran built those amazing underground missile cities just for the US to take over. It won't be easy and there will be mass casualties but I think that since we paid for them we should annex them. Some countries in northern Europe have similar underground bases. I would love to visit them. The closest to that I have been inside was NORAD.
- olelele 6mo agoSo you are ready to sacrifice thousands of lives for that?
- Bender 6mo agoSo you are ready to sacrifice thousands of lives for that? It's not up to either of us but to your point I suspect that will occur regardless of what you or I desire. We stepped into the bog of eternal stench that is country #7 Iran. This has been planned for a very long time but every president has been able to back out of it. Trump started it and only has authorization for about another 5 business days but I suspect congress will begrudgingly approve bipartisan authorization to not only keep our soldiers on the ground but to send another 500k to 700k as anything less would likely be ineffective against their defenses. This can not be solved by technology alone. I can only hope that we undo what we created 50 years ago and give Iran back to it's people and stop the endless proxy wars. Since I can spend hope it's free and nearly meaningless I also hope we welcome our soldiers back with more dignity than we did for the Vietnam veterans this time.
- actionfromafar 6mo agoAn AWACS was picked off sitting on the ground, that's a bad look. It took Russia years to get to that stage in the war. One has to wonder how much of the bad US performance is due to deep, systemic problems and how much is due to a rushed and unplanned military operation.
- sam_lowry_ 6mo agoRussia lost its own AWACS early 2022 to a DJI drone attack, IIRC
- tim333 6mo agoThere was a certain arrogance from Trump - the Ukrainians offered to help out with years of up to date experience countering Iranian style done warfare but of course no.
- joquarky 6mo agoSeveral decades of education cuts along with a second or third generation of nepotism/cronyism will get you some significant systemic problems.
- Jamesbeam 6mo agoDon't forget the emotional damage. Their war propaganda is so much better than that of the US military. Lego Trump, soul-crushing tweets, with Trump it is like taking candy from a toddler but still… I’m glad the US is winning so hard they don’t know what to do about it. Otherwise, they would look blatantly incompetent on a Russian army 3-day special operation level. I am seriously no longer concerned about Greenland.
- OutOfHere 6mo agoArticle doesn't fully load. It says "Just a moment. We are getting your experience ready." and is stuck there.
- dredmorbius 6mo agoAnd Archive.Today can't seem to bypass that paywall: <https://archive.is/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fworld%2Firan%2Firan%2Dcaused%2Dextensive%2Ddamage%2Dus%2Dmilitary%2Dbases%2Dpublicly%2Dknown%2Drcna331853 https://archive.is/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fworld%2Fi...> (All current copies have the same issue.)
- catlikesshrimp 6mo agointernet archive, although more easily archive.today, should make a firefox extension to archive paywalled articles from people who have subscriptions and release them in the future (5, 10 years)
- OutOfHere 6mo agoUnfortunately, archive.today can never be trusted to have a safe Firefox extension. It is difficult enough to trust the site anymore after it was found that it was engaging in a DDoS attack against a different site. Imagine the hazard from an extension. In the same spirit, however, it would help to have an extension that auto-archives unpaywalled versions of paywalled articles, and makes them auto-available to users subject to the paywall.
- catlikesshrimp 6mo agoThe problem with INMEDIATE pirated access of paywalled content is that it really hurts journalism. I mentioned archiving paywalled content for preservation and reference years from now.
- OutOfHere 6mo agoYou argument is invalid because nothing that is not available to the public is being hurt. Your argument is like saying that redistributing wealth really hurts rich people, so the poor shouldn't do it, and should just suffer being poor instead. Your argument would have merit only if unpaywalled journalism was being hurt, but it isn't.
- pazimzadeh 6mo agotrump did literally everything backwards. he should have started with the blockade and increased the pressure over time, with decapitation strikes at the end if needed. also..help arm the people of iran before doing anything else. that would have made iran look like the aggressor when they eventually bombed their region. instead the islamic republic's "strategic patience" fully paid off and now most rational people sees them as victims. what trump's doing is like trying to cure multi-drug resistant bacterial infection with whatever random antibiotics are on hand - the very thing that created resistance.
- oa335 6mo agoexactly this... this has been strategic disaster from US perspective. a blockade plus covert ops could have split IRGC leadership - instead public decapitation caused rally round the flag effect and gave immediate legitimacy to khamenei heir. completely idiotic
- karmakurtisaani 6mo agoIf we are on the topic of what he should have done, I think the first on that list is not go to war with Iran at all.
- pazimzadeh 6mo agosure, I'm just talking pure strategy e.g. if you were going to war with iran, what's would be the ideal play?
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- jltsiren 6mo agoIf the goal is to overthrow the regime by force, you need boots on the ground. The basic approach might be something like the Iraq war but bigger, and with an actual plan for the aftermath. And it might end up being the biggest (or at least the most intense) war the US has fought since WW2. Air strikes are effective at killing people and destroying property, but their impact on the situation on the ground is limited. Even if you manage to destroy the regime, there needs to be an alternative with sufficient legitimacy and institutional support to replace it. But authoritarian regimes are pretty good at keeping the opposition weak and fragmented, making such alternatives unlikely to emerge. So you either need occupying forces to provide the institutional support, or the likely outcome is a civil war.
- metalman 6mo agomissed the real message that "they" are desperate to hide, which is that Iran destroyed a great deal of infrastructure while causing very few casualties, because clearly they have very high precision armaments, and intel, so the message is : they can hit other targets at will and escelate plus China stated that they are delivering new missles and systems that Iran payed for before this began, right about now.
- statguy 6mo agoThe casualties are low largely because US troops simply abandoned their bases and moved to hotels, treating the citizens of their gulf allies as human shields.