Iran Crisis & the 2026 War between Iran and the United States, Gulf States, and Israel - Please focus on news and coverage, not argumentation.

Sexual Chocolate said:
Those fast attack craft aren't fast enough to escape an F-35 or an F/A-18E/F, and if they ever had a dream in which they fired on a US Navy vessel, they better wake up and apologize before they get turned into a greasy brown stain on the surface of Hormuz.
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Yeah an F-35 or F-18 can go slow enough without stalling for an accurate strafing run, but you know who was made for this...
 
StudMccool said:
they are TRUE fast attack craft with mounted anti ship weapons
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here is a better visualization showing the multiple kinds
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I think THIS is more what you were referring to and while they do have those baston whalers with a heavy machine gun up front thats not what they mean when they show craft kicking up a wake like that in "open" ocean. those are large engines
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founda better picture of the boats likely used, you can see the large mounted anti ship weapons on the side
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also found a picture where they are used as mobile launch platforms for medium sized drones
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A lot of good those TRUE and HONEST "fast attack craft" have done against the US Navy so far.
 
draggs said:
Yeah an F-35 or F-18 can go slow enough without stalling for an accurate strafing run, but you know who was made for this...
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StudMccool said:
WAT
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Iran "closing the strait" was still them letting their own shipping continue. they need that, more than the US needs to have the rest of the shipping active, Iran losing that bit of shipping out of it's ports are starting to strangle it economically as it's cut off the lions share of any money the country can feasably earn right now to support itself.

Iran wants that opened back up, but right now that's the leverage we're pushing on Iran as leverage in negotiations. Places like Pakistan are pushing for the US to allow this because they think it's the only way Iran will come to the negotiating table. If we don't have the blockade leverage, leverage would come from another avenue (bridge and power plant day)

The US is not going to release pressure on Iran in one form or another until a deal is reached in line with our own aims.

(I know trump writes ineloquently on social media but if you just know the context of what's happening it's really easy to grasp at the points he's making)
 
ThisIsGonnaBeGood said:
Pakistan's Izzat-saving attempts continue to backfire on them, as now both pro-America and pro-Iran lobbies are calling them feckless retards who are willing to lie to whatever side they're currently facing just to prove what masterful peacemakers they are.
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The best thing about the Iran War is that it is jeet-pilling Trump. Now, all Stephen Miller has to do is tell him that H-1Bs behave exactly the same as the Pakistani mediators and he'll instantly understand why they need to go.
 
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Iran's military more capable than Trump administration is publicly acknowledging, sources say
By

Updated on: April 22, 2026 / 12:06 PM EDT / CBS News
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Washington — The Islamic Republic of Iran maintains more military capabilities than the White House or Pentagon has publicly admitted, according to multiple U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the matter.

About half of Iran's stockpile of ballistic missiles and its associated launch systems were still intact as of the start of the ceasefire in early April, three of the officials told CBS News.

Roughly 60% of the naval arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is still in existence, the officials said, including fast-attack speed boats. On Wednesday, Iranian gunboats attacked several commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, shortly after President Trump announced he was unilaterally extending a ceasefire to allow more time for peace talks.

Iranian air power has been significantly degraded but not erased, said the officials, who requested anonymity from CBS News because they were not authorized to discuss the matters publicly.

About two-thirds of Iran's air force is still believed to be operational, the officials said, after an intensive U.S. and Israeli campaign that struck thousands of targets, including storage and production facilities.

Previously, the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have described the U.S. effort, called Operation Epic Fury, as essentially destroying Iran's military capacity.

"We've taken out their navy, we've taken out their air force, we've taken out their leaders," Mr. Trump said Tuesday.

The defense secretary has gone further in his public statements, saying, "Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital V military victory," Hegseth said at a Pentagon press briefing on April 8, shortly after Mr. Trump declared a ceasefire with Iran. He added, "By any measure, Epic Fury decimated Iran's military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come."

Battle damage assessments show that the joint operation has destroyed much of Iran's conventional navy, according to a U.S. official who sought anonymity to share confidential details with CBS News.

But the naval arm of the IRGC, built for asymmetrical warfare and equipped with many smaller vessels, remains partly intact, officials said, and it's that navy that's hampering oil shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

The head of the Defense Intelligence Agency submitted a written statement ahead of a House Armed Services Committee hearing that said Iran can still inflict damage.

"Iran retains thousands of missiles and one-way attack UAVs that can threaten U.S. and partner forces throughout the region, despite degradations to its capabilities from both attrition and expenditure," Marine Lt. Gen. James Adams wrote.

Asked for comment for this article, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the war has been a success, with more than 13,000 Iranian targets struck.

"In less than 40 days, the United States military delivered a crippling series of blows to the Iranian regime," he said.

Parnell said 92% of the Iranian Navy's largest vessels have been destroyed, and about 44 minelayers destroyed.

It was "the largest elimination of a navy over a three week period since World War II," Parnell said. "Secretary Hegseth could not be prouder of our warfighters' resolve, and mainstream media's obsession with discounting their efforts is telling."
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Iranian tankers bypass US blockade
At least 34 tankers with links to Iran have bypassed the US blockade since it began, according to the cargo tracking group Vortexa, including several carrying Iranian oil — despite US President Donald Trump declaring the barricade a “tremendous success”.
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At least 19 tankers with links to Iran have passed through the US blockade to exit the Gulf. At least 15 have entered the Gulf, heading towards Iran from the Arabian Sea.

At least six of those that left were confirmed as carrying cargoes of Iranian crude oil, amounting to 10.7mn barrels. Iran’s oil, which is normally sanctioned, tends to sell at a discount to Brent crude. Assuming a $10 discount, that volume would represent revenue of about $910mn.

Among those that have exited is the Dorena, an Iranian-flagged supertanker that navigated past the US blockade with its transponder — the device that signals its location and identity — turned off.

According to Vortexa, the sanctioned vessel was one of two laden tankers that left Iranian waters on April 17, with two more crude oil tankers having sailed past on April 20.
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Several sanctioned tankers have meanwhile entered the Gulf from the Gulf of Oman, including the vessels Murlikishan and Alicia, which were sanctioned by the US last year.

Both vessels travelled through the strait on the night of April 14 before sailing up to the northern end of the Gulf.
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Iranian tankers bypass US blockade
Dozens of ships exiting the Gulf include several loaded with Iranian oil
Alice Hancock and Nassos Stylianou in London
Published Apr 21 2026

At least 34 tankers with links to Iran have bypassed the US blockade since it began, according to the cargo tracking group Vortexa, including several carrying Iranian oil — despite US President Donald Trump declaring the barricade a “tremendous success”.

The US imposed its blockade on all ships entering or leaving Iranian coastal waters from 10am ET on April 13, marking a fresh phase in the Middle East conflict as Washington tries to pressure Tehran into a peace deal.

The embargo was expanded to cover all Iranian vessels on the high seas or those carrying goods that could be used by Iran in the conflict on April 16, according to notices from the US Navy.

US forces have so far detained one container ship in the Gulf of Oman and boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indo-Pacific. US Central Command said on Tuesday the US Navy had directed 28 vessels to turn back to Iranian ports since the blockade began.

“The blockade has been a tremendous success,” Trump said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, adding that he would not lift the US embargo on the Strait of Hormuz until Washington reached a “final deal” with Iran.

But tens of ships have managed to circumvent the blockade, according to Vortexa. At least 19 tankers with links to Iran have passed through the US blockade to exit the Gulf. At least 15 have entered the Gulf, heading towards Iran from the Arabian Sea.

At least six of those that left were confirmed as carrying cargoes of Iranian crude oil, amounting to 10.7mn barrels. Iran’s oil, which is normally sanctioned, tends to sell at a discount to Brent crude. Assuming a $10 discount, that volume would represent revenue of about $910mn.

Among those that have exited is the Dorena, an Iranian-flagged supertanker that navigated past the US blockade with its transponder — the device that signals its location and identity — turned off.

According to Vortexa, the sanctioned vessel was one of two laden tankers that left Iranian waters on April 17, with two more crude oil tankers having sailed past on April 20.

Satellite imagery analysed by the FT in March shows the Dorena off the coast of Malaysia engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer — a common technique used by oil tankers to mask the origin of oil — with another sanctioned vessel. It last signalled its position off the southern coast of India on April 18.

Several sanctioned tankers have meanwhile entered the Gulf from the Gulf of Oman, including the vessels Murlikishan and Alicia, which were sanctioned by the US last year.

Both vessels travelled through the strait on the night of April 14 before sailing up to the northern end of the Gulf.

In retaliation for the blockade, Iran has maintained its control over the strait. It insists that vessels must pass via a preordained route set out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and can only do so once they have received permission from Tehran.

At least 30 vessels attempted to pass through the narrow waterway on Friday after Iran declared that the strait would be “completely open” before clarifying that it was only open to those with permission to pass.

Several ships, including a French container ship and an Indian tanker, were fired on by Iranian troops on Saturday. Transits of the waterway have subsequently dropped to a trickle.

Shipowners have said the combination of the US forces’ action and Iranian control over the strait amounts to a “double blockade”.

Most of the vessels that tried to pass on Friday U-turned and are now at anchor in the southern end of the Gulf.

Vortexa is a company tracking oil shipping. They provide some additional analysis on their site:
Impact on Iranian crude production, storage and flows

While causing widespread media attention, from a fundamental point of view the US blockade is unlikely to have any meaningful effect on Iranian crude supply to the market in the medium term (2-3 months).
Concerning seaborne crude imports, this is because about 160mb of Iranian crude are on the water, 130mb of which are already outside the US blockade area. This is sufficient to supply about 2.5 months of typical Chinese import needs, and more vessels are likely to trickle through the US net.

And Iranian oil production is unlikely to be immediately constrained because it would take 22 days for Iran to reach its maximum observed fill level since 2020, if it stores 1.5 mbd of crude production in storage tanks. And even more important, ballast tanker supply may be sufficient to sustain production for up to two months in total, albeit precautionary production curtailment is likely earlier. But again these figures are for a case where the US blockade hinders 100% of the Iranian oil traffic, which appears unlikely on the initial indications.
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SaidNoOneEver said:
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-more-capable-than-trump-admin-publicly-acknowledging/
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Give me a million nuclear bombs and I won't know how to use them. My capability is zero. This is a hot war and their actual "capability" has already been proven statistically. Their capability was to kill 1 American servicemember for every 400 IRGC members lost, but they've been unable to kill a single American in the last three weeks of the hot war, so that puts their "capability" at effectively zero right now.
 
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StudMccool said:
the iranians have a class of miget submarine that can be used for minelaying
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odds are they still have a handful and those are real threats
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Oh noes! How ever will the US handle those with their own submarines and sonar and whatever other forms of cutting-edge tech?

StudMccool said:
they are TRUE fast attack craft with mounted anti ship weapons
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IRAN'S POWERING UP!1!11 GOTTA GO FAST!!11!1
 
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CaliforniaRaisin said:
They really did scream AI WOMAN in that post, didn't they? Like... you don't even have to be a Gen Alpha AI slop creator to have seen that. It's wild this even became a thing on Trump's radar.
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how do they have pictures of 8 Iranian women with their hair out?
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