Excellent! Tell him not to let anyone send him in search of a wire stretcher.
Noted! cf., "Snipe hunt."
I'm sifting through all the news on the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
It looks like the US bunker buster bombs targeted ventilation shafts and hit those targets.
Current assessment is that they did a lot of damage but did not destroy the site completely. But it's been "taken offline." It's not usable.
It also looks like the Iranians cleared out a lot of equipment and enriched Uranium before the strikes.
So, Trump's brag that the Iran's nuclear facilities were totally obliterated (with the implication the US could do a one-and-done strike to end the war, and Iran's nuclear threat) is not true.
However, Iran's bluff that the bombing did only cosmetic damage is also false.
Can you believe it? Both countries lying.
Iran is certainly going to have retaliatory strikes at nearby American military bases in UAE, Bahrain, Qatar et al. They don't need the long range missiles they've used on Israel, they can use the short and mid range missiles because it's just across the Persian Gulf from them.
40,000 US Troops stationed there will offer a lot of targets.
The one thing Iran still has is a huge supply of missiles. That's what they've been doing with all their oil money for the last decade.
That said, Israel has spent about a billion dollars on their missile defense system, their interceptors, and they have been very successful at stopping the majority of missile attacks.
The media has tended to portray the war between Israel and Iran as one where each side is striking back and forth in volleys, as if they were equal reprisals. That's not what's happening.
Iran has suffered a death toll that's like 600, whereas it's 25 or so in Israel. Israel's early attack wiped out a ton of Iran's defenses and infrastructure, and Israel has complete impunity to send its planes over Iran.
Iran is very weak, and its proxies are also very weakened. Israel took out most of Hezbollah's leadership last year. Hamas is otherwise occupied. Syria under Assad was an ally of Russia and Iran, and since the revolution last year that's gone. The Houthis are still active in Yemen, and can attack ships in the Straits of Hormuz and Persian gulf but direct attacks on American helicopters have gone ill for the Houthis.
All of this, plus Russia being tied up in Ukraine is probably why Israel decided to attack when they did. And Netanyahu convinced Trump he could do a one-and-done strike that would decide the war.
To be clear, the Islamic Republic is a truly evil regime who brutally suppressed the popular uprising protesting the treatment of women who were being beaten, tortured and killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The regime does not have the popular support of the people.
I'm not making an argument for regime change, I'm just saying that the Iranians getting killed are civilians who just want to live their lives.
All the talk about the unconstitutionality of the attacks are bullshit because since 9/11 the executive has retained the right to attack without Congressional authority. Congress is weak and hasn't even protected its control over the purse strings during Trump's tariffs wars. One of the checks is not balancing.
The complex geopolitics of the region come in to play as well, with the Saudis (Sunni) in competition with Iran (Shia) for dominance in the region. Oil rich Russia benefits from Iran's oil fields being taken out, because Russian oil is paying for the Ukraine war.
So nobody's going to come to Iran's aid, and there won't really be any condemnation from US's European allies because they would all be happy to see Iran's nuclear weapon capacity destroyed.
And make no mistake, that's the only reason Iran wanted the enriched Uranium. Because they see that North Korea has made itself a fortress because it has nuclear missiles which can reach the US.
In short: Iran will retaliate with missile strikes at American bases in the Gulf. They will also definitely increase cyber attacks on the US, and I think Russia will aid them in that way. They would focus on power grids and utilities and transportation systems etc. Once Iran retaliates against the US, then the US will strike back again, going for a crippling blow at their missile systems and infrastructure.
Iran already has almost no defense against Israel and could not withstand a major US assault.
Ultimately, Iran will be forced in a weakened state to the bargaining table, I think.
The far ranging consequences though are impossible to anticipate. The Iraq war didn't create a stable democracy in that country, and didn't stabilize the region.
This won't bring about peace in the middle east. And the one lesson every country will take from this is the example of North Korea. Which is that they will want nuclear deterrence to prevent the US from waltzing in and setting the terms of surrender.