Iran more capable than Trump administration is publicly acknowledging, sources say

Tbh I’d chalk up a lot of Iran’s supposed success at drone warfare to an absolute failure of Western CUAS innovation, doctrine & adoption, as opposed to Iranian technological genius. Shahed-type drones are artillery shells with fiberglass wings and a motor that fly directly at preprogrammed coordinates. They’re more like c**** cruise missiles than actual drones. It’s an abject failure of Western+allied CUAS adaptation and procurement that makes them a threat, not something inherent in their design or employment by the Iranians.

Plus they're a massive country and a natural forretress with lots of mountains. Every expert have warned that going to war with Iran would have been a disaster and welp, lo and behold.

Anyone remember when [this](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-16095823) happened? Their drone tech got a big boost from this incident, no doubt.

> the Iranians used down US predator drones, made them cheaper Most of their reverse engineered knockoffs are similar in appearance only, but lack the same capabilities. They often copy design features without being able to duplicate their function just to make it look alike.

Whatever economic status North Korea is, they got nukes. They're relatively safe from US 

What Russia had paid them pales in comparison to how many hundred of billions of dollars they make each year with crypto thefts. Also, keep in my mind North Korea was essentially stealing Bitcoin from the get-go, and I doubt they sold/laundered all of it. Kim Jong Un is the OG diamond hands.

Hey it’s not JUST raping kids. Sometimes it’s convincing the idiots that voted for him that letting him manipulate the stock market and embezzle from Americans is in their best interest.

They didn't even move their extremely expensive and scarce radar systems. Iran knew exactly where they were, because they've always been in those locations, and did some serious damage to the US' ability to counter missile threats in the ME the second the war started. The US and allies were really caught with their pants down there. Here's a quick rundown on their best missile defense systems: ---------------- For top-of-the-line missile defense, the US has 8 THAAD batteries total (WorldwidE). Each THAAD battery has 1 high-end AN/TPY-2 Radar system, which serves as the defense nucleus and also supports other, smaller anti-missile systems. Of the 8 US THAAD batteries, five typically defend the USA, one is in Guam, one in South Korea, and the last one is unknown (probably Middle East). Outside of the radars with these 8 THAADs, the US has had another 5 AN/TPY-2s delivered. One was once reported at a Turkish Airbase, used by the US. The Saudi's have purchased some THAADs, they had 1 delivered as of last year, and it's probably the only one they've got. Takes a long time to get these things delivered. The UAE purchased 2 THAADs, which have been delivered. So in total in the ME, at the outset of the war, there were: * 1x Saudi THAAD * 2x UAE THAADs * *probably* 1x American THAAD Each of these is reliant on a single AN/TPY-2 radar system, which is not easily replaced. ------- Within 3 days of the war (but probably on day one when the biggest flurry happened) the Iranians [destroyed](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/05/middleeast/radar-bases-us-missile-defense-iran-war-intl-invs) the AN/TPY-2 Radars of THAADs at: * Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia (probably the single Saudi battery) * Al Ruwais Industrial City (First UAE THAAD Battery) * Al Sader Farms (Second UAE THAAD Battery) * Muwaffaq Al Salti Base in Jordan (probably the unknown US THAAD) At a quick count, that's severely degraded, if not disabled entirely, ALL the THAADs that are tyically available for defense in the Mid east. *All of them!* NONE of them were apparently moved from their usual locations before the outset of the war. The radars alone are $500mil a pop. Explains why the US had to pull the THAAD out of South Korea, because it's either that, or leave gaps in the continental US. --------- Besides that, there's also the AN/FPS-132 radar in Qatar. This was blown up by Iran by the 3rd of March. These are not mobile, and they are the highest-level radar systems for ballistics missiles. There are 6 of these in the world, and 5 of them defend North America. The 6th was in Qatar. Over a billion dollars for one of these. -------- So yeah, lots of people (including me) were surprised at how many of Iran's missiles and drones were able to get through missile defenses, and how quickly they ate up the western stockpiles of interceptors. But if you don't have the radars, it's much harder to track the missiles, and you end up needing to use the expensive systems on even some of the little stuff. It explains a lot, knowing how badly the radar systems were hit. Iran knew what they were doing. What's bizarre is the total lack of preparation from the US and allies. These systems were extremely obvious targets, they're the most important card in the missile defense strategy. How TF did they fail to defend *any* of them?? Extreme incompetence in planning, honestly unbelievable. You could blame it on Trump, but honestly, I'm not sure that even the president's failures could cause this big of a f***-up. It's a wonder more americans didn't die.

>used all their "fast" options trying to... I don't know what They thought that if they just took out the head of the regime the rest of them would just roll over and surrender. They thought that just because the population were protesting the regime at the time that they would greet the US with open arms, as if they didn't hate the US more than they hated the supreme leader. In'n'out, quick 20 minute adventure...

Yup, if only we had known what a boondoggle this would be for like, 50 year or something. Oh wait..

They used all their "fast" options trying to distract from the epstein files.

I don't think they wanted a revolution. It's much more likely they wanted to raise a docile 2nd in command like in Venezuela.

I'm no expert in this stuff, I'm wondering if the issue is transporting the stockpiles there, not production. They seemed to have went in with little planning/preparing ahead of time and are still spending time getting assets there like additional ships and carriers and didnt get clearances approved with other countries to run operations out of them or see if they would join them (turns out the answer is no).

Whenever Trump has said that the Iranians are desperate for peace, what he really means is that He is desperate for peace

I'm surprised we don't have a Sharpie that can handle this like when he rerouted the hurricane.

> Don’t siege Leningrad, take it immediately  This is the level of acumen this administration is bringing to the table.  You got them on record saying “all other administrations did war stupid”

Part of that is I think a fair number of people really believed that many of those 93 million would actually be on their side, that everyone in Iran hated the government and was just waiting for this chance to get rid of them. They bought into the whole thing of "the people being the boots on the ground", so with some stretch of the imagination the 2500 marines could seem like enough

I'm assuming it's trump that thinks it on the equator and not you?!

Marines could rappel from the equator and take the country in one night.

America is using tactics from the mind of Sundowning Tzu instead.

Nah, the Book of Don Tzu. (not mine, copy-pasted it into a chat weeks ago from another listnook post) > "Tariff, belittle and threaten to invade your allies. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen." - Don Tzu. > "If you don't know what you're doing, neither will your enemy." - ⁠Don Tzu > "Surprise your enemies by backstabbing your allies" - Don Tzu >"Surprise your allies by befriending your enemies." -Don Tzu >"To command attention in a crowded room, shit yourself." - Don Tzu >"promise a plan in 2-3 weeks, in 2-3 weeks deliver nothing" - Don Tzu >"If you find yourself in a deep hole, keep digging but make sure you do it with the most expensive shovel available." - Don Tzu >"Don't try to understand war, economy, or diplomacy, for this is an impossible task. It's all computer." - Don Tzu >"Break an enemy blockade by blockading their blockade." - Don Tzu

I guarantee that if Trump ever learned who Sun Tzu was, he would near-instantaneously claim that *Art of War* “wasn’t as good” as *Art of the Deal*.

“Shart” of the deal

Is that what decimated actually means? lol

>I think they know they could go toe-to-toe with the Israeli and US bombings and escalate to the maximum, and the war would be over quick. Lmao this is awesome - definitely deserves a meme-type response, I'm just struggling with which one... Is it more like, "It's only a flesh wound!" Or, "HOLD HIM BACK" Or, "Doctors Hate Him! Get bombed 14,000 times - but its actually all part of this one simple trick!"

I agree

equivalent to putin thinking he could sweep ukraine in a few days