US/Israel conduct airstrikes on Iran again

Just to be clear, are you claiming that Saudi Arabia is neutral in this conflict?

Agreed, I'd expect to see both the mobile OTH and another AEGIS destroyer or 2 deployed to Diego Garcia.

The band of US equipment and capabilities is being stretched tighter & tighter and the production capacity across everything, Ships, Missiles, Radars and even aircraft just isn't there.
Approx the last 100 F35s built have been delivered without radar as they await APG85 sets and the new TR4 software.
What's absolutely mental regarding F35, is that the new APG85 radar, requires a different structural interface with the airframe and as such, the APG81 cannot be fitted as an interim radar until the new radars are available.

Mental engineering choice that is solely designed to milk customers who choose to refit to APG85 when that becomes available.

https://www.thejournal.ie/middle-east-war-6991146-Mar2026/

Israel bombing nuclear facilities now , they won’t be happy until they set off a nuclear reaction and kill hundreds of thousands of people . Israel will blow up the planet and kill us all for a finish up .

Are the US still bombing Iran or is it just Israel at this stage? Can Trump state that the US has won and take his players off the pitch? Israel would surely object to that?. Does the Straits of Hormuz remain closed indefinitely?

What a mess!!

US bombers are loading up and departing the UK every day for bombing runs on Iran

On a brighter note, moves to disarm Hamas and begin reconstruction in Gaza are gaining momentum.

Trump's Gaza plan, to which Israel and Hamas agreed in October, sees Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza and reconstruction starting as Hamas lays down its weapons.

"It is now on the table. It requires one clear choice: full decommissioning by Hamas and every armed group, with no exceptions and no carve-outs. In this season of hope, may those responsible make the right choice for the Palestinian people,"

Unbelievably, if this were to happen, and the Israeli advance into Lebanon finishes off Hezbollah for and for all, all the Iranian proxies in the region would be eliminated.

If the mad mullahs despotic theocratic regime were also to fall, the entire middle east could be at peace within the year.

Yeah given I opened the original thread on the Saudi/Pak defence treaty here?
I don't need reminding of it, but thanks I'll keep it mind.

You are approaching the current situation as if the participants are all rational actors.
Who won't act in a manner deliberately harmful to their position and in particular their place in the geopolitical arena.

Israel started this war with a claim of existential threat.
Their 1st action was a decapitation strikes, and since then they keep aiming at the next level of leadership that emerges.
That destroys the quality of the people left making decisions.
Decisions such as targeting and escalation eventually rest in the hands of extremists who will view this as the opportunity to strike hard at Sunnism and Wahhabism before their Shia theocracy is snuffed out.

The more that the US & in particular Israel persist with their current targeting strategy?
The more likely it is that decisions are made to torch the Gulf.

As for strikes on desalination plants, I agree 100% a warcrime, should not happen and must not happen again.
But again, who 1st hit a desalination plant?
It was the US, with a PrSM launched from Bahrain.
Similarly to my thread on the Saudi/Pak alliance though...
If you search back on this thread, I'd be surprised if you found anyone who mentioned water and in particular the threats to Iranian and Tehran's water supply that could result from strikes earlier than I did.

Your disappointment that there could be peace in the middle east is noted.

God forbid that Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC might be erased from history in exchange for peaceful and prosperous living for the ordinary people.

Yes, I agree with you that the GCC are acting with restraint at present.
They aren't being led into a war despite the strikes, and perhaps the only thing that will tip the balance towards war for them would be an all out strike on their production infrastructure.
If there are multiple participants in a conflict, and 2 see confrontation as existential.
Israel sees the destruction of Iran's Theocracy as its only path to long term security.
Iran sees the attacks by Israel & the US as an existential survive or die inflection point for their regime.
How do the rational actors left deescalate the current situation to the point where both the irrational actors can step back with a perception of at least medium term security?

Iran currently seems to believe its only path to survival is to either hold the entirety of middle east petrochemical production at risk, including those of its neighbours.
That doesnt just put the Gulf at risk, it puts the entirety of advanced economies relient on fossil fuels at risk.
Aside from the US, Canada & Russia very few nations have enough domestic production to weather that impact and Europe certainly doesn't.
The other option that Iran will no doubt IMHO race toward now?
Is a nuclear weapon.
It will see the last 2 attacks on Iran as proof positive that survival of the regime can be guaranteed by nuclear weapons.
With North Korea and Pakistan as the prime examples of what it would see as "security" for its regime.
Replace the Mullahs in Iran, with the Army in Pakistan or the Kim family in North Korea.

Israel believes that it bomb enough of Iran's militiary industrial complex to set it back maybe 10yrs.
Without regime change in Iran however?
How can Israel end their war or claim anything approaching a victory?
If the Iranian regime survives, they can and will rebuild.
The lurch towards multipolarity becomes even more severe.
An Iranian regime that survives this war?
Emboldens the CRINKs and makes clear that US power is, despite the rhetoric, waning.

I find myself circling back to a drum I've banged before on this thread.
That Non-proliferation is dead, that Trump killed it.
I said on twitter in November 2024 and a few times since on boards.
The global security order the World has relied on since 1945 is dead.
The abandonment of international norms by the West to defend Israel's actions in Gaza was the lid on the Coffin and Trump's actions since taking power have each been nails.

As it was shot down we don't know the payload if any, but it didn’t need a payload as it was rather symbolic, “hey we can attack you”, lots of reporting of that attack even if it was never going to be effective.

@vswr I have no idea why they are allowing these to be tracked on FR24, but here you go.

The RSAF also has them.

Explosions at US military base in Bahrain, state media says - as residents told to shelter

Several explosions have been reported at the US-owned Juffair military base in Bahrain, according to the Iranian state Tasnim news agency.

A separate report by the outlet on Telegram said several powerful explosions were heard across the island country this afternoon.

In other news a defence analyst said it’s worrying for the UK that Diego Garcia was targeted after the UK joined the war as the UK has zero ability to intercept ballistic missiles. Even though Diego Garcia is closer than the UK from Iran the doubt remains on how far their missiles can go.

Gulf states are responding according to self preservation. Further tourism loss if they go into offensive mode.

And for what gain? What do you think gulf states could inflict on Iran that their puppet masters in the US/Israel havent already?

Gulf states are doing all they can to preserve their empires of sand. Banning residents from reporting. Allowing the US to launch attacks from within their borders and praying for peace/end to this.

I don’t think you realise just how bad this can get for Iran and Iranians, so far there haven’t been much in way of attacks against infrastructure like desalination plants, refineries, dams, power plants and ports {all that infrastructure modern countries need and countries like Israel and Russia love attacking}, if anything Trump seems to cling to the hope that he can find someone left alive in the regime to step and can “deal with” Venezuela style despite having complete air superiority and not yet imposing a sea blockade

If the Gulf countries are left with literally nothing and no future then there will be nothing left holding them back from levelling Iran and using their bottomless treasuries to fund attacks from all directions including bringing in Pakistan who do have the population to occupy Iran

As I said before these states have been incredibly retrained despite repeated attacks, the longer this war and attacks on them go on the higher chance they join in, already polymarket is pricing in a 53% by end next month of one of the gulf countries joining in