NYT Admits Iran Rendered Virtually All US Gulf Bases Uninhabitable
NY Times admits that Iran’s strikes have driven US forces from most of their bases in the Middle East:
Iran has bombed U.S. bases across the Middle East in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war, forcing many American troops to relocate to hotels and office spaces throughout the region, according to military personnel and American officials.
So now much of the land-based military is, in essence, fighting the war while working remotely, with the exception of fighter pilots and crews operating and maintaining warplanes and conducting strikes.
In response, I wrote on X:
Do you know what it does to your troops' morale to have all your regional bases wiped out and garrisons abandoning ship and fleeing?
People are underestimating the reverberations this will have on the Empire's armed forces and ability to project them in the future.
As we have seen, the USS Gerald R Ford has flunked out of the Middle East, US bases are in ruins or deserted, and US strategic air defense radar installations have gone up in smoke. As others have noted, no adversary in history can be said to have achieved such an effect against the US—except maybe the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.
But while US troops have been kicked out of their bases, talk of major buildups continues. Some believe it is bunk: Journalist Ken Klippenstein writes that his own military sources have informed him that all such rumors are just exaggerations to “frighten” Iran:
It is not imminent and not even inevitable.
Military sources tell me that for weeks, the Pentagon has exaggerated the readiness and potency of the Marines, setting in motion a media frenzy that is part stupidity, part disinformation to spook Tehran, and part manipulation to please Donald Trump.
He goes on to note that most of the troop transports have not even left the docks:
On March 13, headlines blared that the “three-ship” USS Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group, carrying the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, was ordered from Japan to the Middle East. Over the next week, news outlets across the globe literally tracked the supposed 2,200 Marines making their way moving west through the Strait of Malacca into the Indian Ocean.
In actuality, one of the three ships, the USS San Diego, never left Japan and is still there. And the other two ships, carrying just 1,500 fighters, are sitting at Diego Garcia, roughly 4,260 kilometers from Iran’s coastline.
And that second Marine Expeditionary Unit? Contrary to some reporting that said that the USS Boxer Group left Hawaii on March 19, it departed San Diego. It will have to cover approximately 22,200 kilometers to reach the region and wouldn’t be able to arrive until mid-April at the earliest. Navy sources in San Diego say it is still unclear to the unit itself whether it is headed for the Gulf or just moving to the Pacific to cover the departing Tripoli group.
It’s unclear how true or untrue that may be, but his assertions that the Pentagon has been exaggerating its bravado to please Trump certainly jibes with new revelations from earlier today that Trump has been fed a steady “highlight reel” diet:
You literally can’t make this up: Trump believes the war is going expertly because he’s glued to highlight reels showing a bunch of decoys and old garbage trucks being hit by million dollar “precision missiles”.
All the while, the US continues being exposed and overextended, with an F/A-18 Hornet appearing to be hit by an Iranian manpad over Chabahar port earlier:
The fact that this is Chabahar right on the Gulf means the US certainly does not enjoy any kind of ‘air superiority’, if its fighter jets are not capable of operating without threat of being shot down at the very outskirts of Iran; forget about fantasies of “deep penetrations”.
Due to his inability to convince Iran that it has lost the war, Trump has continued TACO-ing out of his threats, extending his scary ‘deadlines’ time and time again—all while desperately scheming to cajole Iran into accepting his back-door negotiations:
The bottom line of the war is this: The US has nothing left to hit because Iran has gone “dark” and salted away its premiere systems, bunkered down its leadership, and only launches missiles from underground cities the US and Israel can’t penetrate because they’re deep inside Iran and would require establishing the “air superiority” that supposedly existed since day one.
The operational protocol:
The launcher moves on rails toward an exit
Rises to the surface
Fires
Immediately retreats underground
The exit is sealed by armored airlocks
Total duration: less than the response time of a retaliatory strike.
Launches observed on March 20, 2026, from the underground rail infrastructure confirm that the system is operational despite the bombings.
As such, Trump is buying time in angling for a gimmick that can get him ‘victory’ optics while secretly begging Iranian negotiators to take the bait and give in to hand him his “deserved” triumph. Iran appears to intuit US’s weak-handed bluff and is continuing on, slowly garroting Trump’s war effort and political capital.
Some now believe that Trump’s waffling is again concealing a potential “surprise attack” to seize Kharg or a different island, given that Trump had before laid a hint about delivering “one last massive blow” to Iran before ending the war.
Ryan Grim from Dropsite news:
Iran’s parliamentary speaker:
In reality, it’s likely Trump himself does not know what he plans to do and is merely operating on a daily whim based on how much his “highlight reel” briefings have jacked up his endorphins that particular morning. The ‘strategic ambiguity’ card is a given for the sake of buying time, but it’s clear now that Iran is not being degraded at all and is actually only growing stronger given that socio-political consolidation has ramped up throughout the country owing to the failure of the West’s various psychological schemes.
Personally, I lean towards Ken Klippenstein’s earlier thesis that the supposedly-ongoing concentration of US ground troops is meant more as a psychological threat factor to leverage Iran into negotiations. But that doesn’t mean that should this leverage option fail, Trump won’t legitimately consider deploying the troops in some way, shape, or form—though no one yet can come up with an even semi-plausible scenario for how exactly such an operation could unfold.
Remember: it’s easy to land the initial force on a given enemy territory or beachhead—it’s the follow-up logistics sustainment that becomes untenable. Russia could land all kinds of paratroopers on Odessa beach if it really wanted to, but how in the world would it ever keep them supplied for more than a day? The same goes for the various Iranian islands besides Kharg which are allegedly “in play” for an amphibious and/or air assault of some kind.
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A few last items:
Russia continues cleaning up:
India has doubled its imports of Russian oil at prices above Brent, Bloomberg reports
▪️ Indian refineries purchased 60 million barrels of Russian oil for delivery in April. That is twice as much as in February, before the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, Bloomberg notes.
▪️ The oil was purchased at a premium of $5 to $15 per barrel compared to Brent.
▪️ Russia is reaping major gains from increased demand and higher prices for its oil, earning its biggest export profits since March 2022, Bloomberg emphasizes.
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The triumphant military commander snoozes through a highly important meeting about his already-won war:
What’s the point of paying attention when you’ve already won? Being alert is for losers.
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US Senator asks a very obvious question about the war’s purpose:
Trump: We need $2 billion a day to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
US Senator: But it was already open before the war? So what was the point of whole war?
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On March 16th, Trump said 90% of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers were destroyed:
On March 24th, he said the number was now…82% destroyed:
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Lastly, Iran has been dancing all over the US when it comes to agitprop content. The latest cleverly vows vengeance for all those historically oppressed by the ‘Epstein Empire’:
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Iranian propaganda video review - 5 STARS!!!
It is literally Ba'al/Moloch who needs red heifers sacrificed to anoint a new temple. Those people are spiritually SICK. The west is characterised by full term abortion, euthanasia as medical care, suppression of cheap, safe, and effective cancer cures, and normalised pedophilia.
Peace terms in Iran.
What gives Israel the right to have nukes but Iran can't have nukes?
Russia, China, and Iran could press for a balance, either no nukes for either country or one each.
Until Israel gets put in its place, there is no hope for a peaceful existence anywhere. Israel is more of a threat than Iran. Putting all those nukes in the hands of a radical group ready to apply its Samson option as a path towards the return of the Messiah is a good definition of insanity. If any country needs to be de-nuked, it's Israel. It has proven to be the most rogue nation on earth, committing all kinds of wars, atrocities and genocide and getting away with it. Israel needs to be toned down, whatever it takes. It's not too late, but it's getting close to it.