The Strait of Hormuz is some 650 feet deep and 21 miles wide at its narrowest; no amount of sunk ships is going to block it.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 01:32 pm: Edit

Tell that to the MSNBC talking heads.

What part of “Outlandish and wildly improbable” was unclear?

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 01:44 pm: Edit

They'll need to use missiles, drones, or artillery to close the strait. As Jessica points out, it can't be physically blocked, and their navy and airforce aren't up to the job.

But I would not bet against them being able to close the strait for some time, based on the shear amount of Iran that is in range of various parts of the Persian Gulf. If I were Baharain, I'd be worried about saturation attacks aimed at the refineries and port facilities.

On the gripping hand, just how bad is the downside for the USA to the strait being closed, we're a net oil exporter as are several of our closest allies.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 02:23 pm: Edit

Iran has launched 14 missiles (to match the number of MOPs dropped) at the US controlled Al Udeid airbase in Qatar.

All seem to have been intercepted - and it very much seems to be Iranian consumption , as they hvae stated 'we hit back' and reported the Base was 'shredded' (and it seems they did zero damage) .

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 02:59 pm: Edit

Just "Don't touch the Boats" IYKYK

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 03:38 pm: Edit

Doug: while we're a net exporter, we import most of what we refine into gasoline; very few of our refineries are configured for the type of oil we produce.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 04:14 pm: Edit

The US reports all of the missiles fired at Qatar were intercepted. Iran says it "wiped out" the US base and they want a ceasefire. Israel says "yeah, right".

On Fordow, the sat photos show six holes, in two groups of three. Each hole in the groups of three is a couple of hundred meters from the others. Two bombs hit each hole, so at least some of them broke into the complex. Six thousand pounds of explosive going off inside a rock cave/tunnel/gallery is going to shove all the equipment against the far wall and reduce it to scrap; any people in there will be reduced to hamburger. One cluster of three went off in one end of the centrifuge hall, where a dozen machines in a row each enrich the uranium a bit more than the one before it. The other bomb cluster hit the autoclaves which do something critical in the enrichment process. Earlier Israeli strikes collapsed the tunnel entrances, blocking everyone/everything inside. The columns of trucks were not evacuating equipment but hauling removed dirt/rubble as Iran tried to dig their way back into the complex.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 05:21 pm: Edit

"Trust but verify."

I don't suppose true confirmation is possible, at least not without sending people to actually look at it.

But what SVC says is probably true.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 02:21 am: Edit

And now we have a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

Iran accepted Trumps ceasefire proposal first and Israel just accepted it.


Now to read the details....

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 08:24 am: Edit

...and it took only a few hours for it to be violated, apparently by both sides.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 11:16 am: Edit

and in Brussels - NATO agrees to spending 3.5% of GDP on their militaries and a further 1.5% on Defence Support - although this is a tad more vague).

What does say $5 Billion get you these days?

A Frigate (possibly small Destroyer??) + 4 Typhoons/F35's + a Composite Battlaion (1 Company of say 16 tanks and 2 companies of Infrantry with IFV's)?

If you had an extra $5 billion for Miltary expenditure - what would you buy?

(Yes, the Bigger GDP Nations will have alot more than $5 Billion to now spend - but if your wanting a Nuclear Sub or Small CV, they don't come cheap -and $5 Billion will not go very far!!)

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 12:19 pm: Edit

Rusman,

Can someone shed some light on this for me?

The first reports I saw, stated the B-2s, flew out of Guam...
Basically, just flew 3/4 way around the world....

Though earlier a report that B-2s had flow out of the U.S. to an Indian Ocean base...

Easy for the media to mix up air bases.....

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 02:21 pm: Edit

To go a bit further into it:

A flight of B2s flew west out of Whiteman toward Guam. They were the decoy. Not long after, the actual strike force flew east out of Whiteman, refueled over the Atlantic, and hit their targets some 18 hours after takeoff.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 03:19 pm: Edit

The B2s that hit the target refueled at least twice on the way to Iran (some sources say four times).

I have heard on the news every number you can think of for how long after takeoff they attacked (9, 12, 18 hours) and how long the flight was (20, 25, 30 hours).

Given that the two-man crew had a bathroom, a microwave, a drinks cooler, snacks, something called "Jean's trail mix," folding beds, and a bumper pool table, they apparently had a comfortable trip. The B2 was originally designed with space for a crew of four or even five, but advances in computer made this unnecessary.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 04:28 pm: Edit

A preliminary classified U.S. report says the American bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings, according to officials familiar with the findings.

The early findings conclude that the strikes over the weekend set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, the officials said.

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 04:54 pm: Edit

I have heard that the crew also had some brownies with pecans on them baked by Jean...

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 06:44 pm: Edit

The report that Jessica refers to is a New York Times article citing unidentified sources and written by the “journalist” who lied about the Hunter laptop. As it contradicts every other published report, only the anti-Trump media has taken the report seriously.

Since it was the Israelis who bombed the entrances, and the US bomb craters were nowhere near the entrances, the only element of the story that can be verified is debunked outright. We actually have no direct proof that the underground galleries were or weren’t breached.

It was reported that the pilots of the B2s saw blasts waves erupting from the entrances at the time of the bunker buster impacts on top of the mountain, which would prove the galleries WERE breached, but no video of these supposed eruptions has been seen, so believe it or don’t.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 08:06 pm: Edit

The BBC is also reporting it, and tends to be fairly even-handed with such things.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 08:36 pm: Edit

The BBC is nothing close to even handed, and like CNN is just repeating the NYT article. If everyone who hates Trump repeats the same unsourced “information” i guess it must be true (not).

Jessica, it’s really not a good look for you to keep citing left wing news sources as even handed.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 08:50 pm: Edit

How about Reuters (which apparently spoke directly with the sources in question, rather than relying on CNN/NYT/etc reports)?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 08:55 pm: Edit

Dubious. Not as bad but not good. Legacy media is all singing the same hymns. If the source is just making stuff up, no matter who repeats it, it’s unreliable. For that matter, Fox repeated it, citing mutiple reasons to find it doubtful.

Not saying it is wrong, just that you cannot just leap to the conclusion that any source hating Trump as much as you do is confirmed. Most of the legacy stories about the Donald have been proven false. Russia Hoax, Fine People Lie, Laptop Dancer, Medicaid Cuts Lie, Mass Arrests of US Citizens, Horse Whip Lie, Vaccine Hoax, In Vitro Hoax, Birth Control Ban Hoax. I’m tired.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 09:32 pm: Edit

IAEA says the destruction inside the tunnel complex was even more serious than first reported. Obama’s CIA diector says destruction was total, that the tunnels were indeed penetrated.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 09:47 pm: Edit

If this drifts too far into `Gator Chomp territory, I apologize and ask for it to be deleted, but this whole thing about going after Iran's nuclear capability just FEELS too much (to me) like the attacks on Saddam Hussein's WMD program, again, by airstrikes, back in the `90's.

You know how things went from there (the impeded "Verifications" and so on).

I hope we're not on the same route, but I am seeing more similarities than differences.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 09:57 pm: Edit

Biden's national security team have been on TV today saying that the bombs penetrated and the underground facility is reduced to scrap metal.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 02:51 am: Edit

As part of the Militarry Budget increase - the UK is now buying 12 F35A's - specificallly, so the RAF can join the Nato's airborne nuclear mission.

(The RAF doesn't currently have any aircraft which can deliver a Nuke).

I did try to 'Google it' - and best I can find is there are currently 7 NATO Nations which are part of the shared Nuclear Bomb program.

I know since the Germans retired their Tornado's (which the RAF had also used)- they didn't have an aircraft which can be used. (Correction - it seems the Germans are stil using the Tornado - as are the Italians - I don't know if it's the variant which can use the NATO Nuclear Bombs - but I am sure I read something last year stating that they removed that variant from service and so no had no planes capable of using the Bombs - and now I find it - The German Tornado's look like the will be phased out between 2026 to 2030 - with Italian Tornado's going this year).


Other than the US and Germany therefore - who are the other 5 Nations (I am guessing France with Mirages/Rafale - and possibly Italian currently?? )?

Thanks