Trump says US will ‘destroy’ Iranian gunboats that harass American ships

Feeble elders should act like they learned something as they grew old and quit acting like they are more than they are. By now they should know where the lines are and stay within them. A war would not be pretty and all would suffer but Iran would lose and that is reality.

 

I know for a FACT that the US engages in a well-funded PROPAGANDA campaign against Iran, including to discredit and undermine its government. Just like the one it employed to undermine the government of Dr. Mossadegh (which is now public record but long known by anyone who had any clue). A campaign of lies, misinformation and disinformation to go along with the usual spin and propaganda.

Anyone who steps foot into Iran would quickly realize how much of everything said about Iran is mostly lies and propaganda.

 

Despite your age, spoken like a young, violent, punk. In the meantime, though, fortunately for Iran, it is wise and learned enough not to be as feeble as the US would like it to be.

What are those "lines"? I may be forgiven if I can't keep up with the latest twist and formulation about them, as they seem ever changing

 

Then it's a good thing you aren't an Iranian leader because they know.

 

Dude: don't even go there! I don't want to bring up the host of threats issued against Iran the past year by Trump personally, all of which were ignored by Iran!

Listen: even before Trump was elected, he mouthed about how he would have Iranian speedboats 'blow out of the war' if they even looked the wrong way at America's "beautiful warships'! He has been obsessed with the issue ever since and, when the US military finally realized that highlighting the incidents at sea would simply cause him to put more pressure on them to do something stupid, they stopped highlighting what was going on!

But shortly after taking office, the Trump administration "officially" (whatever that means) put Iran " on notice":
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/iran-trump-michael-flynn-on-notice
Trump administration 'officially putting Iran on notice', says Michael Flynn

In the meantime, these are the incidents that followed very quickly the "official warning" to Iran by the Trump administration.

And this picture, of course, is from the incident a couple of weeks ago which supposedly had Trump riled up again.

 

If being a 'bully' would have worked with Iran, if 'threats' would have worked, it would have worked by now! You can't possibly threaten a country more than Trump has warned Iran! He has, inter alia, warned to bring about the "official end of Iran", "to obliterate Iran", and do things to Iran "no one has ever seen before". He has even threatened to strike Iran's cultural sites (publicly), as well as (privately) threatened to go after Iran's Supreme Leader personally.

My message to America: Stop trying to be a bully. It is not really all that becoming. Even more so, it doesn't work with Iran.

 

I lived two years in Berlin during the Cold War so don't play ignorance Dick & Jane with me. You know nothing. Anyone who thinks the Berlin Wall was erected to keep the Cubans from "escaping" probably never went to school.

 

I know nothing about boats but I can imagine the catamaran configuration offers some stability for a small craft to manoeuver in choppy water.

 

~ There have been no reports of any U.S. / Iran altercations at sea since Big Don put down the order .

 

The problem is much worse than you think it is. Have you ever visited the U.S.? Their education and literature consist of American propaganda throughout. Their idea of "knowledge" often is based upon that propaganda and any counter-argument is parried by "Everybody knows ......." and "Even an idiot knows ....." The problem is compounded by the fact that catch-phrases such as "anti-American" or "hating the U.S." are common terms and by not displaying the U.S. flag (either in front of your home or inside of it) one risks suspicion of being one of those. The Kafka-isk situation is on the rise and the NSA is bringing the American population to resemble Cold War, Soviet terror. The situation with Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are well-known examples.

As I said earlier, most Americans think that Iran is an Arab nation. They think that Iran is building nuclear capabilities with the express purpose of devastating the U.S. They think that Iran is bent on engulfing the world. They think Mossadeq was a "tyrant". They think that the Shah was a saint. They think Iran was "sleeping" with Communism. They think Operation TP Ajax brought Democracy to Iran. Do I need to continue?

 

Which suggests that the U.S. is keeping a safe distance and respecting Iran's domestic-territorial interests. I don't say that American presidents actually make any decisions in the White House but I am sure that Trump is no idiot and he knows that tangling with Iran would be a very BIG mistake.

The U.S. has always been a loud-mouth and a bully (whenever they can get away with it) but the intelligent leaders know where to curb their boasts. Iran is both capable and willing to send the Yanks to their graves whenever Washington steps out of bounds. Tehran does not owe Washington any favours and Iran will not be bullied by the U.S. Trump knows this. He's a businessman.

 

American naval vessels haven't entered the Persian Gulf since "Big Dig" ran his mouth, which the Pentagon and Trump "clarified" (watered down) weren't any new orders for the US navy (which operates under the same 'rules of engagement' as before) but a 'warning' to Iran. When they do enter the Persian Gulf, I am sure they will be greeted the same way they always are greeted. They will be escorted by Iranian vessels and will be looked at even closer than before.

 

In the meantime, the Pentagon -- while planning to give the 110 US servicemen injured by Iran's missile strikes against the Al Asad airbase their "purple heart" medals under existing US guidelines -- is trying to figure out how to do so without making Trump looking even more foolish. Imagine giving the 'purple heart' medal to dozens of soldiers when the 'commander-in-chief' had said 'no one was injured'! And then called the injuries "headaches".

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/...n-missile-barrage-on-al-asad-airbase-in-iraq/
Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq

I know another poster in this forum who is still arguing that Iran simply damaged some tents. And now I realize why? Often, people here about these 'initial' comments (lies) and don't keep up with these same people say afterwards. And refuse to even see what pictures and facts show them.

 

When did the US blow any of those boats out of the water? Maybe they are still coloring within the lines. Be careful. I just read that Trump is deranged, pushing a crazy man's buttons is dangerous.

 

I am not sure what you mean and assume you mean when Trump first made the same threat? If that is your question, the first time he publicly commented on it was in September 2016.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...roper-gestures-will-be-shot-out-of-the-water/
Trump: Iranian boats that make improper ‘gestures’ will be ‘shot out of the water’

He has been rather obsessed with the issue since then!
https://www.axios.com/trump-iran-gunboats-d46c1c3a-d080-4f83-b3ea-515942efe1d0.html
Inside Trump's obsession with Iranian gunboats

 

And those Ayatollahs threaten all kinds of stupid crap, so what? Why are you surprised he speaks your language? You never can tell though, he may just pull the trigger if he feels he's been disrespected and crossed. Y'all be careful of those lines

 

I think you are aware of the standard, U.S. procedure: "In an unrelated incident ..... these 110 fine heroes, while protecting every American's freedoms, were wounded in the line of duty."

 

In terms of the future of naval warfare, I seriously doubt that future belongs to large aircraft carriers: besides being too expensive, too much of an inviting target with too many people on board, being increasingly vulnerable to modern anti-ship ballistic missiles, manned aircraft are themselves of questionable utility these days. What manned aircraft can do in terms of delivering munitions against an enemy target, precise and accurate missiles can also do without the huge investment and risks to trained pilots. And whatever else manned aircraft on board aircraft carriers can do, unmanned aircraft/UAVs can do as well. For me, large aircraft carriers will increasingly be what large battleships were before: a relic of the past.

The future of naval warfare does belong to more agile, to more stealthy, to harder to detect, and faster, vessels. For coastal defense purposes, for instance, properly armed speedboats (backed by onshore systems, missiles and drones, as well as mini-submarines designed for operation in hallow waters) can do a much better job than larger and more vulnerable vessels which the regular Iranian navy (and most other navies) use. For force projection purposes, on the other hand, I think the future belongs to some of the things Iran is working on. Vessels that operate a high speed and in rough waters, but which are relatively small and yet can carry a good punch. And, yes, to submarines that fire not only torpedoes which travel faster than any known system can defend against to hit enemy naval targets, but also can fire cruise missiles using systems that make it harder to trace the launch to the location the submarine is hiding.

The most important navy projects that I anxiously await to see completed by Iran is this one. The high speed catamaran-style troop, helicopter and missile carrier Iran developed and which serves in Iran's revolutionary guard navy is already interesting, but once the "Safineh" trimaran Iran is working on is complete, it should be able to travel long distances and project some force beyond borders without being too much of an inviting target itself.

https://www.navyrecognition.com/ind...safineh-guided-missile-destroyer-project.html

I am also very anxious to see Iran's next generation of locally produced submarines. Iran has already been developing various submarines for a quite a while, with the Fateh submarine launched by Iran several years ago, Iran's most capable domestically produced submarine in Iran's fleet. These submarines, equipped with the HOOT torpedoes developed by Iran, and the very unique (one of a kind) cruise missile launch system Iran uses for its submarines (making detection of the source of the launch much more difficult), will provide Iran additional force projection capabilities.

For those who are interested, HERE is a recent article by Forbes on some of Iran's naval projects. Unlike Forbes, however, I actually give more credibility to projects which are undertaken by Iran's revolutionary guards (not necessarily to their statements about them), because unlike the regular Iranian military, the revolutionary guards can tap into resources and funding from the network of economic interests they operate in Iran that goes beyond the small military budget Iran has for its armed forces. Partly for that reason, 'ambitious projects' by Iran's revolutionary guards actually have quite a history of bearing fruit, while the same ones for the regular armed forces in Iran are more varied. Even when they bear fruit, funding and budgetary reasons, preclude them building enough of these systems to make a huge difference militarily.

 

~ Very unlikely any of this razel-dazel weaponry will ever be used much at all. Any future "wars" will be economic, tecnologic and biological - as we are now experiencing with China . The days of bullets , bombs and rockets are likely already in the past .

 

Sorry but wishful thinking.

 

I noticed an unlikely figure, not at all within their norm of contributors, writing for the National Interest. Whether Trump realizes or not, he has worked himself into a corner by his rhetoric and actions viz a viz Iran. Increasingly, these are indeed his only choices.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/trump-has-two-options-leave-middle-east-or-war-iran-149871

 

Lol

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis_Ballistic_Missile_Defense_System

 

Comedians look for laughter not clapter.

 

Lol indeed:
How many batteries and ABM missiles do you think you have, even if they really worked as effectively as you imagine? How many ballistic missiles do you think Iran has? And what about low flying cruise missiles? Or anti-ship ballistic missiles?

In the real world, the US has no reliable answer for these:



Or these:

Among many others I could mention.

 

Of course we do - I'll see all your scary regional toys, and give you one remote operator 12,000km away