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Obviously they have boats. The question is, do they still have boats which are capable of serving as a launch platform for ballistic missiles? And could those boats meaningfully close the distance between Iran and its adversaries.

This launch demonstrates that if the answer to both of those questions is still no, they can still place them at threat.

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The question is do they have a launcher that fits in a shipping container...
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They’ve been preparing for this day for 5 decades, and I wouldn’t believe this administrations propaganda if they claimed the sky was blue.
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>They’ve been preparing for this day for 5 decades...

So have the USA & Israel I suspect.

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Five decades doesn't seem to mean much when most of their leadership, military and air defenses can be laid prostrate by the US and Israel in a couple of days. I don't ever take Trump for his word, but neither do I think there's wisdom in believing that a technologically superior force couldn't easily wipe out Iran's ballistic-capable navy just because they've been preparing for a long time.

Edit: am I wrong? Can copium in fact save inferior boats from a vastly superior military force?

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Large surface and mini subs, yes. They still have many small boats for laying mines. These are indistinguishable from a typical motor boat.

Look at how Ukraine has denied Russia access to most of the Black Sea. It's going to be real hard to stop Iran from creating enough uncertainty to ease the worries of the shipping world. Iran will have to say they are done threatening the straight.

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We're losing the plot here. What use are small motor boats for launching ballistic missiles?
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Comments and threads typically digress into related topics, so I don't see the plot lost, rather the context expanded in a subthread.
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The haven’t even started using these yet, curious who wins this game of chess: https://www.usff.navy.mil/press-room/news-stories/article/31...
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Many experts think Iran has already won. They don't have to lay mines to seed doubt, they don't need boats to close the straights, shaheds are sufficient. One does need to define what it means to "win"

For Iran, it seems the regime will stay in power, you can't remove them from the air. The geography and population size of Iran will prove more challenging than Iraq or Afghanistan. There is very little support for Trump's War. They never sought to persuade the people, it appears they have no plan b (which they wish to be illegal /s)

Hubris is an apt way to describe Trump's approach to Iran. One evidence to this is that they thought Venezuela was the model for Iran. A SA dictator is nothing like a religious movement that has taken root for ~50 years.

What does winning look like for the US & Israel? Trump has already claimed they won, but have more winning to do. What they have said changes daily and between who's talking. I imagine this will continue after hostilities end, they will backfill their goals to claim they "won", like so many other things they do this with.

The real winners from this? Probably Russia and China more than others.

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I was just talking about winning the “plant-bombs” vs “detect and-blow-up-bombs” chess game. I have no comment on the rest of what you said, nor do I care who “wins” here, I have no say in the matter and have chosen zero emotional investment.
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Similarly, there are new laser guided hydra pods starting to roll out.

https://en.defence-ua.com/news/ukraine_could_equip_its_f_16s...

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Don’t believe Hegseths obvious buffoonery. They still have boats.
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