Iran caused more extensive damage to U.S. military bases than publicly known

Iran’s Deterrence and Regional Power Balance

• Several commenters argue Iran/IRGC has achieved real deterrence: it survived US strikes, hit multiple US bases and allies, and showed willingness to absorb major damage to its own infrastructure.
• Others counter that sanctions and blockade have gutted IRGC revenue (claims of ~90% income loss), making its position brittle and dependent on mercenaries.
• There is sharp disagreement over who is “blockading” the Strait of Hormuz, whether the US stance is militarily sustainable, and whether the global economy can tolerate a major oil shortfall for long.
• Some see Iran’s precise, low‑casualty strikes on US infrastructure as a deliberate signal: “we can hit what we want, when we want.”

US Military Vulnerabilities and Strategy

• Multiple comments say Iran’s ability to damage US forward bases exposes a core weakness of the US expeditionary model: reliance on vulnerable land bases for sortie generation.
• Claims that US used a very large share of its high‑end standoff weapons and interceptors; continuing at that burn rate is seen as strategically unsustainable.
• Damage to key enablers (AWACS, radars, tankers, runways) and pushing carriers further out supposedly breaks the sortie math and forces heavier use of expensive munitions.
• Some argue the US response devolved into threats against civilian infrastructure because the counter‑force air campaign hit diminishing returns.

Broader Geopolitics: Gulf Allies, Taiwan, and China

• One thread says Gulf states were attacked mainly because they host US bases, and notes that US behavior suggests Israel is its only truly protected ally.
• Several commenters claim US performance will alarm Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia, and predict no hot war over Taiwan—possibly a gradual Hong Kong–style accommodation.
• Others reject this: Hong Kong’s fate has hardened Taiwanese resistance to unification, and Taiwan is described as a capable “middle power.”
• A long subthread argues China’s missile reach, semi‑supply‑chain leverage, and potential to strike US energy infrastructure give it far more escalation options than Iran, undermining any US blockade strategy in East Asia.

US Policy, Transparency, and Legitimacy

• Many are skeptical of official narratives: references to downplayed casualties, mishandled incident explanations, and suppression of commercial satellite imagery of damaged bases.
• The article’s description of extensive, costly damage with few US deaths is seen by some as contradicting claims of an unqualified US success.
• Commenters tie current events to a longer history of US support for Saddam against Iran, coups, and past atrocities, arguing that US moral standing in the region is weak.

Regime Change, Responsibility, and Ethics

• Strategic debate: some say a blockade plus covert ops and arming civilians would have been smarter than high‑profile decapitation strikes; others say the US should never have gone to war at all.
• Several insist that overthrowing Iran’s regime by force would require large‑scale boots on the ground and would resemble or exceed Iraq in scale and difficulty.
• There is disagreement over whether Iran’s conventional military (Artesh) could smoothly replace the IRGC, and whether IRGC is primarily ideological or profit‑driven.
• Strong dispute over whether the US bears responsibility to “fix” Iran, versus having already done enough damage and lacking legitimacy or capability to reshape the country.

Information Warfare, Drones, and Bases

• Observations that quadcopter‑style drones are operating with near impunity around regional bases, with speculation about fiber‑optic control and gaps in current air defense.
• Some argue US bases were treated as expendable and largely emptied before attacks, trading infrastructure for lives.
• A side discussion contrasts Iran’s deeply buried military infrastructure with US surface bases, debating feasibility and scalability of underground basing.

Media Access and Archiving

• Several users complain about paywalls and dynamic site blocks; there is discussion on ethically archiving paywalled journalism for long‑term access versus real‑time piracy that might hurt news outlets.