Trump is ready to seize Kharg Island to open the Strait of Hormuz.

"He wants the Strait of Hormuz to be opened. If this requires taking control of Kharg Island, it will be done. If a coastal operation is needed, that could also happen. But a final decision has not been made yet," a senior US administration official was quoted as saying by Axios.

The island is far from the strait, but up to 90% of Iranian oil passes through it, according to Axios, and its capture could strengthen Washington's negotiating position.

According to CBS, the Pentagon has prepared detailed plans for deploying ground troops in Iran, but the conditions under which Trump might give the order remain unclear.

Source: RIA Novosti
➖➖➖
🌒@EastCalling

Trump once again could learn (well...) something from history.

In Vietnam, the US military maintained overwhelming tactical superiority, winning almost every major battle that took place, and inflicted far higher casualties than it sustained. However, the goal of a North Vietnam free from Communism never was achieved. And to this day, nobody considers Vietnam a shining American victory. In fact, the word is synonymous with "folly," or "quagmire." It's also a deep shame on the US National character.

Maybe in 40 years, people will be saying, "we don't want to get into another Iran."

🌒@EastCalling

Trump and Netanyahu see the same mirages as Saddam

On September 22, 1980, Saddam Hussein assembled a force of 50,000-70,000 men, 2,500-3,000 tanks, IFVs and APCs, supported by about 120-150 aircraft and 400 pieces of artillery/MLRS, and invaded the Iranian province of Khuzestan.

The Iraqi army of the era was modern, well-equipped, and technologically superior.

Capitalizing on the chaos sown by the Islamic Revolution, it surged across the Iranian plains. With such a massive force, it seemed invincible, who could have possibly stood in its way?

The advance was rapid. In less than a week, the Iraqi tanks crossed the Karun River and surrounded key cities. The flat topography of Khuzestan favored the armored doctrine. Until the advance stopped.

When they tried to enter Khorramshahr, the Iraqi vehicles got stuck in narrow streets and were hunted by Iranian militiamen with grenade launchers (RPGs). This forced Saddam to divert even more troops to the south, turning the place into a meat grinder.

Saddam realized he would not be able to take Khuzestan in a rush. He ordered the total siege of Abadan and the street-by-street invasion of Khorramshahr. It was the first major tactical error. Troops and armored vehicles entered dense urban areas and came face to face with young Iranians firing RPG-7s from the tops of buildings.

The result was that Iraq took Khorramshahr after 34 days, but at a human cost that broke the morale of the armored divisions. With the Iraqi momentum exhausted, the southern front turned into a “World War I in the desert.”

In May 1982, Iran surrounded and captured 19,000 Iraqi soldiers in Khorramshahr. In 1980, small groups of Iranian soldiers and Kurdish militias used the caves and fissures of the mountains to fire anti-tank missiles from top to bottom.

Approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Iraqis were killed on the southern front alone until 1982, and a large part of the tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed or abandoned. On the Northern and Central Axis, it was a mountain war. Iraq advanced to the foothills of the Zagros, but was again halted by numerous Iranian positions in that mountain range.

Today the situation is very similar: Iran does not try to hold the border; it lets the enemy enter, because it knows it will have protected positions in the mountains to establish a war of attrition.

At this moment, a CSG with about 5,000 marines is on its way to the region, where it should join Israeli troops to attempt an operation to liberate the Strait of Hormuz and take Kharg Island.

Even if this force carried out the land invasion, where would it shelter?

In the same plain that became hell for the Iraqis, or in the short strip of flat land that exists at some points of Hormuz?

And another question: where will this troop group up in the face of Iranian missiles and drones? In any point of the Iranian Gulf lands where there might be success in its occupation, there will be positions in the mountains, drones and missiles hitting that occupation to the point of causing many casualties.

Just as the US-Israel sees a chance of occupation on Kharg Island, Saddam also saw it in Khuzestan. In Iran, when the land is flat, it is also surrounded by positions in the mountains and positions fortified with Iranian UHPC.

To get an idea of the Iranian fortifications, while the high-strength concrete of the USA revolves around 100-150 MPa (megapascals), Iran regularly produces concrete of 200 to 400 MPa.

If the GBU-57 bombs cannot penetrate a few meters of UHPC that protect the entrances of the mountains of the nuclear installations, the surgical bombing with GBU-72, which weigh only 20% of the GBU-57, and occurred in the last days in the mountains of the strait, is a myth.

Putting feet on the ground in Iran would require a force that the United States today is incapable of mobilizing.

Link

🌒@EastCalling

German Chancellor Merz spoke about "not very good relations" with Trump.

"We don't have very good relations with him right now," he said.

Merz also criticized the pro-Trump MAGA movement.

"The MAGA movement is not our movement. What they are doing with culture and the media, the way they treat each other - this is not our idea of democracy. We have a different idea," the chancellor stated.
➖➖➖
Yes, the Europeans are a different flavor of stupid. Their idea of democracy is to restrict all major decisions to a handful of life-long, soulless bureaucrats who simply parrot whatever the fashion of the day is, which is usually some form of deconstructionist societal suicide (cultural and economic), and anyone who publicly disagrees gets arrested.

Of course, due to your terrible decisions as well as any aversion to obviously logical decisions, you exist as a vassal of those Americans you supposedly disagree with so vehemently.

So, sucks to suck.

🌒@EastCalling

Large fire at the Victoria base of the US in Iraq

Source: Tasnim
➖➖➖
Well, that probably was an evacuation we saw earlier, as Geroman said.

🌒@EastCalling

Okay, let's go through the list:

1. "Completely degrading Iranian missile capability."

That's a negative, Ghostrider.

2. "Destroying Iran's defense industrial base."

Mmmm. Partial credit. Iran could easily rebuild facilities and import weapons from Russia and China in the meantime. Plus, most of the stuff that was underground is probably still intact.

3. "Eliminating their Navy and Air Force, including Air Defense."

Iran literally hit an F35 yesterday... Besides, Iran doesn't need a traditional Navy to close the Strait of Hormuz, as we've seen, or a traditional Air Force to strike Israel and facilities in the Gulf. But I will admit that the traditional Navy and Air Force is essentially gone.

4. "Never allowing Iran to get close to nuclear capability."

Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon, there was no evidence they were even trying, and the Ayatollah you killed had a Fatwa pronounced against nuclear weapons.

5. "Protecting our Middle Eastern allies, blah, blah, blah..."

You can't be serious? You threw them into the fire and left a permanent negative impact on their economies. You used them as a human shield.

In conclusion, Trump is simply going to pretend he won something even after failing to enact regime change or even to come up with a coherent goal for the entire operation. Apparently, the goal was to blow up some ships and planes as well as an imaginary nuclear weapons program, which he already claimed was obliterated a year ago.

🌒@EastCalling

The moment a drone hit the American base "Victoria" in Baghdad

Source

🌒@EastCalling

Chinese Liaison (Китайский свяZноj):

Trump stated that the US shouldn't be providing security in the Strait of Hormuz since they don't use it.

When it became clear that the US couldn't handle the conflict, they simply abandoned their commercial firms in the region, informing them that their product export issues are their own private problems.

It's amazing—how many movies has Hollywood made about how if even a single hair falls from the head of a US Citizen, or if American assets are threatened, they immediately move in the aircraft carriers and show everyone who's boss?
But the strength isn't there, so Hollywood products are one thing, and reality is another. American capital investments in the Gulf's hydrocarbon industry are literally burning daily, and they are suffering continuous losses. The US can't do anything, so they say: "Who even are you? I don't know you."

Most importantly, when other countries are in a similar situation, Western media churns out texts like: "Wow, what a weak country, can't even protect its assets abroad." They arrested a tanker chartered by a Hong Kong firm owned by a Frenchman and a Romanian—"DID YOU SEE HOW WEAK CHINA IS, HOW YOU CAN TREAT IT LIKE THAT? NOW THE US, THAT'S A DIFFERENT STORY—OH, WHAT A PERSONAL BLOW TO XI JINPING."

This is despite the fact that in such scenarios, China couldn't care less, since any "Pinocchio" can register a firm in HK. Moreover, even the "but they pay taxes" argument won't work; Hong Kong doesn't transfer a portion of collected taxes to the PRC's general budget. It’s a Special Region, after all.

But here we have real American investments, taxes actually going to the US, yet they can't protect them. But there won't be any texts about the weakness of the US. Because, see the picture.

(Translation of the image: "This is different!" "You need to understand!")

🌒@EastCalling

Naya:

The Zionist defense system appears to be in a deep slumber, and the Iranian missile is hurtling at high speed towards its target in the south of occupied Palestine.

🌒@EastCalling

Sabereen News:

Iran's cross-border missiles reach "Diego Garcia"

A surprising geographical expansion of the war confuses American calculations

In an "unprecedented" military development that upends the geopolitical balance, intelligence reports have detected the launch of an "unknown" Iranian missile targeting the strategic Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.

This attack represents a major shift, as the base falls outside the responsibility of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) and is under the jurisdiction of the US Pacific Command (USPACOM).

An unknown weapon exceeds the known range:
Sources confirmed that the missile used exceeds the known range of previously announced Iranian ballistic missiles by a large margin.

Monitoring maps show that the distance traveled exceeds 4,000 kilometers, revealing that Tehran possesses a "continent-crossing" or long-range arsenal that had been hidden from Western surveillance.

Expansion of the confrontation area:

This targeting indicates that the war zone has effectively expanded to include areas that were not part of the direct confrontation calculations.

Analysts believe that the arrival of Iranian missiles at "Diego Garcia" - a strategic stronghold for US forces far from land - reflects an astonishing level of preparedness and logistical and technical management that has surprised Western defense systems.

Strategic implications:

Paralysis of remote bases: Missiles falling in Pacific regions mean that rear bases that were considered "safe" and launching pads for heavy bombers are now at the mercy of Iranian fire.

Failed estimates: The attack proves that intelligence reports about the "range ceiling" of Iranian missiles were misleading or incomplete.

Dispersion of air defense: Washington's forced need to secure vast areas in the Indian and Pacific Oceans will lead to the dispersion of air defense systems that are already suffering from a severe depletion of interceptor missiles.

🌒@EastCalling