2026 Israeli–United States strikes on Iran and elsewhere in region - News and Discussion

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"Downing of an American MQ-9A drone by the Revolutionary Guard

Two missiles were fired from different positions: the first missed the target from a long distance, while the second was launched from a closer range and struck the aircraft

The use of a Qaem-118 missile is most likely" [translation]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2032820510317256754
 
Many of you are great, but the signal to noise ratio in this thread is making it unreadable.

Because an attention-farming twitter account uses the "Breaking" tag doesn't make it true, or interesting. It certainly doesn't make it convincing.

The thinly veiled politics-as-news posts are, frankly, childish.

My friends, kindly get a grip.
 
www.lexpress.fr

Guerre en Iran : l'armée française envoie des Rafale auprès de ses alliés arabes

Vingt-quatre Rafale de l'armée française sont actuellement présents en Jordanie et aux Emirats, contre dix habituellement. Ils ont déjà abattu des dizaines de drones iraniens.
www.lexpress.fr www.lexpress.fr
24 French Air Force Rafale are currently deployed in the Middle East across the 2 French bases.
Normally, only 10 are deployed (4 in Jordan and 6 in the UAE).
 
Some good snippets in this

www.bbc.co.uk

Wary allies show there's no quick fix to Trump's Iran crisis

European leaders are hesitant to help Trump secure the Strait of Hormuz, but they know inaction on the Iran war is not really an option.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

Instead, the Royal Navy is expected to offer newly developed seaborne drones, designed to detect and neutralise mines without putting crews at risk.
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Tom Sharpe, a former Royal Navy commander, said the latest British technologies had yet to be tested in combat.

"We're probably going to find out in the next few weeks whether or not it works," he told the BBC.

Gen Carter said the last time Western nations carried out a major de-mining operation at sea was in 1991, after Iraq mined the waters off Kuwait to prevent an amphibious landing in the first Gulf War.

"It took us fifty-one days to clear the mines," he told the BBC.
Click to expand...
 
Arjen said:
An apparent change of US perspective.
March 7:

From today's BBC News feed on the war with Iran:
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Another change.
CNN, today's live feed on the war with Iran
1 hr 31 min ago
President Donald Trump insisted today that the United States does not need its allies help to secure the Strait of Hormuz, however experts say it is likely European countries will get involved.
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It took more than 30 hours for sailors to put out the fire aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford last week, sailors and military officials said, as the beleaguered ship continued its monthslong slog through President Trump’s military operations.
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The fire started in the ship’s main laundry area last Thursday. By the time it was over, more than 600 sailors and crew members had lost their beds and have since been bunking down on floors and tables, officials said. The U.S. military’s Central Command said two sailors received treatment for “non-life-threatening injuries.” People on the ship reported that dozens of service members suffered smoke inhalation. And in the category of non-life-threatening, but still not ideal, many sailors have not been able to do laundry since the fire.
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The Ford is now entering its 10th month of deployment. It will break the record for longest post-Vietnam War carrier deployment if it is still at sea in mid-April. That record, at 294 days, was set by the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in 2020.
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Crew members on the Ford have been told that their deployment will probably be extended into May, which would put them at an entire year at sea, twice the length of a normal aircraft carrier deployment. The Navy kept aircraft carriers deployed for nine months at a time, sometimes a little longer, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But deployments are not usually extended past six months. Longer than that, Navy experts say, is very difficult for both the ship and the crew.
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“Ships get tired too, and they get beat up over the course of long deployments,” said Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, a retired naval officer who was Pentagon press secretary and a national security spokesman in the Biden administration. “You can’t run a ship that long and that hard and expect her and her crew to perform at peak capacity.”
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And here without the paywall:
archive.ph

Fire on the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Gerald R. Ford Raged for Hours, Sai…

archived 16 Mar 2026 21:37:47 UTC
archive.ph archive.ph
 
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publiusr said:
Perhaps the Strait of Hormuz can be avoided?

By using fuels at hand, perhaps new pipelines can be dug below grade such that there are no sites above ground to target:
interestingengineering.com

A Contactless Drilling Robot Can Bore Through the Hardest Rocks on Earth

The semi-autonomous robot uses heat and gas.
interestingengineering.com interestingengineering.com
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Approximately 30% of output is transferable via the East-West pipeline straight to the Red Sea, and some ships from India and Pakistan (reportedly) as well as Iran-owned vessels do still pass, so maybe it's at 50% output, but not 0% output.

I wonder why they post so little footage and seemingly with such delay. The latest imagery on this short thread is from a week ago.
https://twitter.com/x/status/2033653914134811124
 
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EmoBirb said:
And here without the paywall:
archive.ph

Fire on the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Gerald R. Ford Raged for Hours, Sai…

archived 16 Mar 2026 21:37:47 UTC
archive.ph archive.ph
Click to expand...
You do realize that the laundry on a carrier is big enough for ~6000 people, right? Not exactly a small thing. And a fire in a confined space gets really bad in a big hurry.

Smoke so black you can't see your hand in front of your face in 2 minutes or less.

Major fires on a carrier always take a long time to put out and then to overhaul.
 
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFXjATHIi7M


gcaptain.com

U.S. Allows Iranian Tankers to Transit Hormuz as Oil Prices Surge and Select Ships Begin Crossing Strait

The United States is allowing Iranian oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz despite the ongoing maritime conflict in the Persian Gulf, a move aimed at preventing a deeper...
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com

gcaptain.com

Ship Tracking Suggests Iran May Be Verifying Ships Before Allowing Hormuz Exit

AIS tracking shows multiple vessels passing between Iran’s Larak and Qeshm islands before exiting the Gulf, suggesting ships may be undergoing verification before transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com

gcaptain.com

U.S. Issues New Hormuz Security Advisory, Telling American Ships to Ignore Diversion Orders

MARAD warns U.S.-flagged vessels to ignore Iranian diversion orders, maintain distance from warships, and prepare for GNSS disruption amid ongoing attacks. The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) has issued a new security advisory...
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com

gcaptain.com

Opinion: Hormuz Crisis Exposes the West Coast’s Self-Inflicted Fuel Risk

Managers across fuel supply-chain logistics are increasingly concerned that, unless restrictions on oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz ease quickly, physical fuel shortages could begin to appear within weeks.
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com

gcaptain.com

UN Shipping Agency Says 3,200 Ships Trapped West of Hormuz as Emergency Council Meeting Called

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) says roughly 3,200 vessels carrying around 20,000 seafarers are currently confined west of the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting the scale of disruption to global shipping as...
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com
 
publiusr said:
Perhaps the Strait of Hormuz can be avoided?

By using fuels at hand, perhaps new pipelines can be dug below grade such that there are no sites above ground to target:
interestingengineering.com

A Contactless Drilling Robot Can Bore Through the Hardest Rocks on Earth

The semi-autonomous robot uses heat and gas.
interestingengineering.com interestingengineering.com
Click to expand...
He chose the ground plan.
View: https://x.com/newtgingrich/status/2033249021133811775?s=20
 

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Grey Havoc said:
Though seriously, that plan would be a logical option in a logical world. Unfortunately however, we are currently not in such a world.
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The IMEC, which sought to expand the East-West into a UAE-Saudi-Jordan-Israel-Europe pipeline, should eventually overcome the Strait of Hormuz closure threats.
It currently hinges on Saudi approval, which is obviously central to the whole thing. I'm assuming this war might push it toward that.
 
Titus K said:
www.lexpress.fr

Guerre en Iran : l'armée française envoie des Rafale auprès de ses alliés arabes

Vingt-quatre Rafale de l'armée française sont actuellement présents en Jordanie et aux Emirats, contre dix habituellement. Ils ont déjà abattu des dizaines de drones iraniens.
www.lexpress.fr www.lexpress.fr
24 French Air Force Rafale are currently deployed in the Middle East across the 2 French bases.
Normally, only 10 are deployed (4 in Jordan and 6 in the UAE).
Click to expand...
The MICA consumption seems big. A new order is on the agenda (I hope for MICA NG).
 
No
y-v-r said:
However, saying "their navy is gone" would be, imho, a mistake since they still retain the ability to conduct naval strikes notably through the use of drones.
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Not to mention dhows (many of which effectively act as naval trawlers for both the IRIN and IRGCN) and small craft like the minelaying variant of the Ashura-class fast patrol boat.
 
From the live stream:

13:19

HMS Dragon seen in Gibraltar en route to Cyprus​

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HMS Dragon, a grey warship, seen at Gibraltar while in the background a ferry and dockside cranes can be seen on the opposite side of the bay


Image source,David Parody​

​

By Rob Corp​

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BBC Verify has been sent images showing the UK Royal Navy Type-45 destroyer HMS Dragon in Gibraltar this morning as it makes its way to Cyprus on the eastern side of the Mediterranean.​

​

HMS Dragon was deployed following a suspected drone attack by the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah on the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus on the second day of the US-Israel war with Iran. Two more drones were intercepted the following day.​

​

The UK government says the ship, which is armed with Sea Viper missiles that can intercept aerial threats, will bolster existing defences at Akrotiri.​

​

According to Gibraltar-based photographer David Parody, who took these pictures, the destroyer is expected to take on fuel and supplies while docked at the British overseas territory on the southern tip of Spain.​

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1773754082947.png ​

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11:13

Iran authorities confiscate 'hundreds of Starlink devices
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84235ea3-e168-4601-8945-9467e76fa41f.jpg.webp
Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence says in a statement that it has confiscated "hundreds of Starlink devices sent by the enemy" - referring to the US and Israel, Iranian news outlets are reporting.

The statement says that according to law, acquiring and using Starlink is a "crime" and during the war anyone doing so will be dealt with at the "highest penalty".

Using Starlink in Iran carries a punishment of up to two years in prison.

It is still very difficult to contact those inside Iran during the internet outage that has been in place since the start of the war, but tech-savvy residents have been using SpaceX's Starlink devices and sharing their connections with others.
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Israel Claims Destruction Of ‘Iran Force One’​

www.twz.com

Israel Claims Destruction Of ‘Iran Force One’

The Iranian government’s Airbus A340 had been part of an exodus of Iranian state-operated aircraft to Oman amid Israeli airstrikes last year. The Iranian government’s Airbus A340 had been part of an exodus of Iranian state-operated aircraft to Oman amid Israeli airstrikes last year.
www.twz.com www.twz.com

Grey Havoc said:
www.bbc.com

Israel says Iran's security chief Ali Larijani has been killed in strike - live updates

Larijani, one of Iran's most senior leaders, was last seen in public on Friday taking part in Quds Day rallies. Iran has not yet confirmed he has been killed.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
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https://twitter.com/x/status/2033884256749903964
View: https://x.com/AmitSegal/status/2033884256749903964?s=20
 
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