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bluegattytoday at 4:36 AM1 replyview on HN

Those nations do not have the ability to defend civilian infrastructure - it's the weak point we see in Ukraine.

Nobody does.

These are large regions, AA coverage is narrow, using F16s to shoot down Shaheds wears down fast.

If Iran has stockpiles, and the wherewithal for mission planning, they can steer them around AA and hit the 'back office' at will.

Those states also have no practice coordinating the in-between methods - they have only very expensive ways to stop Shaheds, and only jet fighters outside of AA coverage.

Now - hitting a lot of things like civic buildings etc. doesn't have much effect, but it depends how the civilians react and cope.

Some very specific things like energy desalinization are acute problems.

These are authoritarian states that can keep information dispersal minimal and the civilians will just have to 'eat it' - but only for so long.

The biggest damage will be to Straight of Hormuz - of those drones can be used to hit Oil Tankers ... if there are enough muntions, it will be bad

All of that said, China and India would be super duper upset about that, and Iran may depend on China for parts. They would have 'no friends' at that point.

So it's all plausible.

But it requires Iran to have capabilities.

The entire Middle East is lit up right now - and that puts US forces on a 'clock' - this is going to be an interesting form of attrition on all sides, not a good situation.


Replies

JumpCrisscrosstoday at 7:31 AM

> If Iran has stockpiles

And launchers.

> of those drones can be used to hit Oil Tankers ... if there are enough muntions, it will be bad

Not really. During the Iran-Iraq war hundreds of tankers were sunk, including in the Strait [1]. Iran's supposed 'nuclear' option was mining the Strait. But for whatever reason, they weren't able to or chose not to do that.

> this is going to be an interesting form of attrition on all sides

I'm sceptical of this read. With missiles, the launchers are the weak link. With drones, the factories. In the meantime, the U.S. gets to refine the anti-drone kit it's been working on (based on lessons from Ukraine and the attacks on the Houthis).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanker_war