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

How do you get the Chimpanzee back?

 

The answer was in the headline from FOX (and in all the other reports): United States Space Command

But these days, you don't need them to find a satellite in orbit. You can find the location of the satellite and a lot more on your own. Just visit this site and it will help you find the satellite launched by Iran in orbit yourself. The Noor (Light) satellite goes around the earth 9 times each day, but last time I checked, its location was as follows:

https://cybershafarat.com/2020/04/23/live-real-time-satellite-tracking-and-predictions-nour/
LIVE REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND NOOR-1

 

About time, Iran's been getting a real fat head when it comes to it's own military power. They could use a sunken vessel or 2 in order to knock them back into reality.

 

Iran’s “Noor” (Messenger) military satellite likely did not reach orbit. The US Space Command did not report that the satellite reached orbit.

A photo showing writing on the missile may also be photo-shopped, so nothing certain can be said about the missile, other than the very limited information provided by Iran.

If a satellite goes into orbit, its orbit is usually immediately reported. The Union of Concerned Scientists offers a satellite database of some 2,218 satellites in orbit including military satellites – the database is updated three times a year (last updated December 16, 2019). There are also online tracking services including Satflare, NTYO and Space.com among others. It will be interesting to see if the Noor satellite appears in any of these publications.

https://asiatimes.com/2020/04/irans-military-satellite-likely-a-failure/

 

You like to fool yourself, that is fine. The report you cite is bogus and not recent, but the nonsense that could fly when the issue was still not clear. I have given you sites you can track the satellite. And after an initial unwillingness to confirm the issue, the United States Command confirmed the satellite reached orbit. As reported by FOX, CNN et al.

p.s.
NOOR in Persian means Light.

 

"A photo showing writing on the missile may also be photo-shopped"

You claimed that US Space Command had detected the Satellite in orbit. Interestingly, you did not include a link. I diligently searched for support for your claim and did not locate any, but, in fact found that US Space Command, as of now has NOT made the confirmation you claimed.

"As reported by FOX, CNN et al". Again you make the claim with no link. As far as I can find they merely reported that Iran made the claim.

 

I gave you the links already in two separate posts, but here again in bigger fonts!
https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-...tered-earths-orbit-us-space-command-announces
Iran-launched military satellite entered Earth's orbit, US Space Command announces

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/politics/iran-military-satellite-launch/index.html
US assesses Iran successfully launched a military satellite for the first time

p.s
Your nonsense is irritating. Satellites can be tracked and the NOOR is being tracked by several sites, including one I gave you if you need to track it for yourself.

 

My friend,

If it comes to a shooting war, the mighty Iranian Revolutionary Guard along with it's dinky-mighty Navy will assume room temperature and cease to exist faster than President Trump falls asleep after giving the order to destroy it.

Now, show us some more of your youtube videos?

 

As long as the US military knows better, and is there to make sure Trump's own delusions in this regard don't get everyone in more trouble than they can handle, who am I to wake you up from your dreams. So dream on.

 

Incidentally, if it ever comes to the US actually shooting any of these speedboats "out of the water", existing precedent suggests we will see the following:
1- Iran will fire a missile and hit a US warship, causing damage to the warship.
2- The real 'fake news' social media will immediately claim pictures released by Iran of the damage are "photo-shopped" and Iran's missiles had 'missed' and hit the water instead.
3- Satellite imagery and a wealth of other evidence will clearly establish an American warship is on fire and being towed away.
4- Trump will come out and say: "little damage was done", "everything is fine".
5- The usual crowd on FOX will praise Trump for 're-establishing deterrence' by shooting the Iranian speedboats out of the water.
6- In the meantime, the US navy will find itself approached by Iranian speedboats even more regularly, while substantially reducing its numbers in the Persian Gulf to avoid contacts with them.

Either that, or whatever else happens afterwards, and whatever aerial vandalism the US will be able to inflict against Iran (not so much its military, other than Iran's major warships which unfortunately are as much sitting ducks as US warships are), the US navy and US bases in the region will find themselves in flames.

 

"whatever aerial vandalism" is a cute phrase for the destruction that can be wrought by the most powerful Air Force the world has ever known. You are fooling yourself if you don't think the USAF can destroy significant portions of the IRGC any day it wants.

 

Anyone with a real clue knows that the rhetoric and actions between Iran and the US are part of what has been described as a "game of chicken". That no one really wins from a war between the two sides, although US Secretary of Defense, Esper, thinks the winner would be China. Certainly, Iran knows that it won't be a 'winner' in case of a war and the ability of the USAF (which you overestimate as it relates to taking out Iran's militarily significant assets, such as its missile force) to cause what I have euphemistically called "aerial vandalism" is well understood. Iran will suffer irreparable damage in case of any war, especially to its civilian infrastructure, industries, economy and more (which isn't the same as imagining Iran will be defeated easily or at all absent a huge commitment of US resources to such an endeavor). The problem is that the US is led by a president who is more inclined to listen to FOX for his understanding of things than to the real military experts who brief him. And the problem with that is these folks you see paraded on FOX are neither experts who have a clue about Iran (you ask them about any Iranian military system, and they wouldn't know what you are talking about) nor are they disinterested. Their whole career and 'post-career' interests are tied heavily to the largess they are showered by special interest groups who don't care about actual US interests, but know that if Iran is cut to size, their little colonial outpost in the region, will have even freer reign to do as it pleases.

Now, if you want to talk seriously about what the USAF can or cannot do in terms of damage to Iran's military assets, and what Iran can and cannot do in return, I am game. But you have to talk more specifically, respond to each point on its merits, and not fall under the by now well established pattern of denying obvious facts and resorting to general commentary about the "strongest air force the world has ever known".

 

´ ~ Sounds like what we have here is commonly referred to as a "pissing contest"... `

 

Ah but it is you who play virtual war games, comparing the might and resolve of the US Military with bravado of Iranian chieftains... who’s dreaming?

 

Unlike you, I have done my homework on these issues. I don't rely on the propaganda on either side for the things I actually believe.

Anyway, to go into more substantive points than the 'pissing contest' some of you enjoy:

Here are some of the things which, although well established, are not reported (or rather highlighted) properly by the western media.

1- Iran has developed ballistic missiles with extreme precision and accuracy. Greater precision and accuracy than the missiles by any other power. Iran has done this because unlike the US, China and Russia, whose ballistic missiles (unlike their cruise missiles, which carry both nuclear and conventional payloads) are mostly meant to deliver nuclear weapons and don't require the same accuracy for this purpose, Iran needed to find a way to counterbalance the US superiority in the air. It needed to do what the USAF is capable of doing without investing and developing the kind of aircraft the US is much better able to develop. Recently, the past few years in particular, Iran has finally succeeded in this regard. Iran's missiles (both cruise and ballistic missiles) now can be viewed as giving it an alternative air force. They can deliver their munitions with a CEP under 10 feet and cover an area around 2,000 kilometres in any direction from Iran.

2- The development of even ICMBs by Iran (currently, Iran has a self-imposed moratorium of 2,000 km for the range of its missiles not to worry western European capitals and cause them to fully join the US in its efforts against Iran) would not mean Iran intends to develop nukes (which I would actually support and believe Iran should do). Even ICBMs would, for Iran, play the role of longer range bombers carrying conventional munitions, mainly to expand its list of targets to deter US aggression.

3- While Iran had offset some of the disadvantages of seeing its enemy enjoy air superiority through its missile force, other disadvantages persisted. Iran still did not have the same aerial or satellite reconnaissance capabilities and you can't fight a war effectively if you have to fight not knowing what your enemy is up to. Iran's expansion of its UAV (drone) force for this purpose was only a partial answer. The utility of drones to give real time intelligence is affected by weather conditions and a host of other issues, including the fact that they would have to fly over the enemy and be liable to being shot down by it. The NOOR satellite launched by Iran is the first of many steps to come to remedy this disadvantage. Right now, Iran is much more hopeful that within a few years, it will have leveled the playing field when it comes to military reconnaissance and intelligence capabilities it needs as it plans a host of other military satellites being launched soon.

4- Iran has developed an Anti-Aircraft/Missile System that it believes is superior to the Russian S-300, called the Bavar 373. Overall, Iran's air defense systems have improved significantly in recent years. But air defense systems, no matter how good, aren't full proof and ultimately, in a war, each side knows that there will plenty of stuff that will get through them. The country which has invested the most on an integrated air/missile defense system on a per capita basis is Israel and even Israel's air defense systems are ultimately not an adequate answer in case of a real war.

As for "nukes" which are the subject of much reporting and 'misreporting" when it comes to Iran: I like to believe Iran has a secret program to develop nukes, but unfortunately for me, I don't believe that is the case at all. And until that is not the case, when facing US threats, Iran will calibrate whatever it does in a way that doesn't get the US too pissed off! If the US is really pissed, none of what Iran has carefully planned based on how the US has been fighting its war up to now since Nagasaki and Hiroshima, will matter. That 'nuclear card' US/Israel possess (along with US ability to reach well within Iran's inner circles and bribe and induce enough people to work in opposite directions, and the fact that the US can engage in aerial vandalism against Iran itself while Iran can only do the same against US allies, bases and forces in the region) are Iran's real Achilles Heel.

 

I'm game. Let's do it in this thread to avoid cluttering up this one.

 

I will reserve the rest of my 'substantive' points for the other thread, but to introduce you to some videos that will help disabuse you of some of your notions, here is a youtube video showing Iran's naval drills in Feb 2019 involving over 100 naval vessels.

 

I'll see your impressive Iranian Navy and raise you the mighty American Navy!

 

GOOD

 

Bahhh - these games have been going on for many years -

Iran's "Trump Card" is not its Navy - Yes - of course we can roll over Iran given the Political will - and there isn't - although it would make for good election fodder.

Missile technology has advanced - now combined with drone capabilities in many shapes and forms - way more rapidly than the ability to defend. Its not just our ships that are in Danger - its our bases and Israel - El Saud in the Surrounding area. Targeted strikes for which there is no reliable defense.

I knew Iran was on that path - Same as the Russia-China- India consortia - but they have advanced way quicker than I would have thought - demonstrated in the Saudi Attack and on our Base in Iraq.

War with Iran is not so simple - and Corona doesn't make it any simpler.

 

Both the Iranian navy and the US navy are basically sitting duck in a war. They will both suffer major losses.

Iran's ability to inflict serious losses to the US navy are well known, not to posters here, but to the US navy. While US naval aircraft have some protection from limited salvos of missiles and such, once a country (like Iran) has developed the means to shoot missiles at US naval vessels from afar and not merely from its naval assets or aircraft, it is pretty much impossible to contain the damage. The real option is simply to take the US navy out of the range of Iran's anti-ship missiles. But here is the problem: Iran now has ballistic missiles that can hit naval vessels, which means they can hit those naval vessels from quite a distance. The latest ballistic anti-ship ballistic missiles by Iran have a range of over 700 km. That will require US naval assets to be very far from Iran, which then limits their ability to contribute to any fight against Iran as well.

The other problem for the US is that its bases in the region are exposed. Some have adequate anti-missile defenses; others don't. There are simply not enough anti-missile batteries to protect all such bases. And not enough anti-aircraft missiles in these batteries to protect the number of missiles and rockets that can be fired at the targets they are ostensibly protecting. And, of course, as shown by the attack against the Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia, there also ways to fly drones and cruise missiles below the radar and hit these facilities without these anti-missiles systems being able to protect them.

Besides ballistic missiles, Iran also have a variety of cruise missiles, including ones that can hit targets more 2,000 kilometres away. And on top of all this, Iran also developed the kind of naval, hit-and-run, gueriilla tactics using large numbers of smaller speedboats and vessels (armed with short-range anti-ship missiles) that can use swarming tactics to overwhelm naval defenses. The US has been working on developing means to counter this, but Iran has too many speedboats (more than 500 equipped with anti-ship missiles and thousands of others) along with quite a few other small vessels (mini-submarines, flying boats, etc) to make it quite fantastical to believe the US could withstand them coming at US naval forces.

The US knows all this and so does Iran. What the US relies on, instead, is the fact that it has the 'reach' to attack well within Iran, take out critical political and economic targets and do severe damage to Iran's infrastructure. That threat is credible and sufficient to prevent Iran from inviting a war with the US. It is unlikely to be sufficient to make Iran cow to unreasonable US demands or behavior that seeks Iran's capitulation.

 

I said Iran has 500 speedboats equipped with anti-ship missiles, but that is merely the largest number which Iran has shown deployed at one time in any drill. The actual number of speedboats equipped with missiles that Iran claims to have built are 30,000! This video covers the issue, with good detail regarding the variety of anti-ship missiles these speedboats carry.

 

So let's give it a try ...