The aftermath of an Iranian drone strike on a building in Bahrain
Martin Jay – Strategic Culture March 2, 2026
Already, only 24 hours in, and Iran is looking like the player who has a salient military strategy, while holes start to appear in Trump’s. And Tehran hasn’t even hit the U.S. with its knockout blow: oil.
Early on Sunday morning, it was confirmed that Iran’s Supreme Leader had been killed by U.S./Israeli airstrikes, which no doubt will be seen by Trump and Netanyahu as a significant victory in their erroneous goal of regime change. But was it really one to chalk up? Reports from Iran indicate that he will be replaced almost immediately by his son, who had already been playing a key role in the country’s leadership anyway and whose appointment may well be a significantly positive step forward for the country, as many Iranians, while wanting reforms in their country, know only too well that the regime change notion is a trap set by Israel which they reject.
Iran has already scored a number of victories in a mere 24 hours, and their readiness this time was evident which, no matter how you look at the conflict, was certainly a consequence of Trump’s earlier actions in June, when he bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities with the agreement of Iran’s leaders.
No such cosy deal exists today. The Iranians have learned the hard way that Trump is not to be trusted and is not even in control of these decisions. What we are witnessing now is the start of a protracted war which will evolve on several fronts concurrently, with the Iranians in no particular hurry to proceed at a rapid pace. Their significant strikes on a U.S. naval base plus one naval ship is a taste of Iran’s ballistic missile capability which is starting to rain down on Israel itself.
The Supreme Leader’s death actually was not a great victory, given that he made no real effort to go into hiding but was killed in his office. By contrast, Benjamin Netanyahu escaped from Israel and ended up being protected by the country which pulled off the Holocaust. And so Bibi can slowly watch the disintegration of his own country while the region deals with a new reality: oil.
Oil will be a critical, decisive factor in how long Israel and the U.S. can continue with the war, as Iran lost no time in shutting off the Straits of Hormuz, while America’s fleet of ships just sat and watched. This may well be one area where Trump has seriously underestimated the consequences, as energy analysts are already predicting the climb of crude to close to $120 USD in the coming weeks. The choking of one of the most critical channels which provides 20 percent of the world’s oil supply is only part of the horror story, though, that Iran has in store for Trump and Bibi. Warned that they would be hit — or at least their U.S. military bases would be legitimate targets — GCC countries have responded in a way which will please Israel and the U.S.: Saudi Arabia has said they will both attack Iran soon, with Qatar and the UAE likely to join.
Yet such a strategy would be a colossal error of judgment and a spectacular miscalculation which will accelerate the war in Iran’s favour and force the U.S. and Israel to capitulate as Tehran strikes the Achilles heel of the whole operation. Iran can easily destroy the entire oil infrastructure of these GCC countries in a matter of hours, which would not only be a knockout blow to those countries’ economies but will have a considerable impact on world oil prices, for one strengthening Russia. For the moment, Iran doesn’t need to go this far, but if GCC countries really go ahead with their threat, it will have little choice.
Another critical area of misjudgement is the logistics of U.S. battleships operating inside the Straits of Hormuz. The straits have already been closed, and any pretensions that U.S. military planners had of taking on Iran in this ocean have been dashed by its successful destruction of the U.S. Naval base in Bahrain, which of course is played down by U.S. media whose low IQ “journalists” make themselves look even more stupid by asking Iran’s foreign minister why Iran is bombing U.S. bases. The U.S. naval base in Bahrain was a critical supply port for U.S. battleships which carry around 90 missiles on board. The destroyers which are now trapped inside the Straits of Hormuz can’t now reload if they deplete those missiles. The other ships which are on the other side of the blockade now can only restock at the U.S. base of Diego Garcia, which is three days away. To say this is a major blow to the whole operation is an understatement. It is a blunder of extraordinarily poor planning and a stroke of military genius by Iran to hit the U.S. naval base in Bahrain on day one, and it explains why the intense fury of the June retaliation last year has not been replicated. Iran is confident that its planning will defeat the enemy as it has a number of aces to play, and so its response is more measured and less frenetic. Iran has been planning this war for years, and the attack last year by Trump has just focused their minds and honed their military strategy to the point where even after 24 hours, they are looking like the victors who have a real strategy which is paying off, rather than their enemies who are dazed and confused. Is it really any wonder that sailors on the USS Gerald Ford sabotaged the toilet system on board by blocking it with T-shirts, so as to delay its voyage to the Gulf?
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Martin Jay is an award-winning British journalist based in Morocco where he is a correspondent for The Daily Mail (UK) who previously reported on the Arab Spring there for CNN, as well as Euronews. From 2012 to 2019 he was based in Beirut where he worked for a number of international media titles including BBC, Al Jazeera, RT, DW, as well as reporting on a freelance basis for the UK’s Daily Mail, The Sunday Times plus TRT World.
> Iran yet to deal its master blow in the region, while U.S. navy looks increasingly vulnerable
LOL. These ragheads are the same as venezuela. They have nothing. If trump wants to take greenland then he should just do it, because denmark has nothing too.
I’m not for trump. He’s chabad. But 1 in 4 people in the world are ragheads. When that figure hits 2 in 4 everyone else will be killed.
But trump ain’t gonna kill them. Because he’s chabad. So he’s doing the great reset. You will be killed first, then the ragheads and other wogs. The chosen ones will be all that’s left.
From a planet earth point of view, this is actually good. 8 billion scum humans gone. And almost all of them are clueless about any of it.
@ Guy Reid-Brown on March 1, 2026 at 4:13 pm
https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=323865#comment-1176614
Do you really believe all that? It sounds like BS. Even if you do, then it’s more of the same. Enrich the rich, crush the poor. And how would you pay for it? You want to remove all tax’s on the rich, allow them to do whatever they please and force all of the poor into apprenticeships. Nice for the rich. Nice for the “farmers”. Not nice for the 99%. I see no mention of homeless in there. No mention of giving people real homes to live in (not boxes), no mention of giving back what the rich have been stealing for centuries. And if you think they’re talking about getting the foreign out of britain, you’re crazy. They’re about 20% of the hell hole. That’s 14m. And most of the country is woke and “welcomes them”.
All I see is another dictator trying to get themselves on the millionaire gravy train.
Just heard on BBC World Service.
Who are they kidding “World Service” indeed…???
Kuwaiti Defences have just shot down three American fighter jets; by mistake.
I wonder if the people of Kuwait can be heard whispering “Alahu-Akbar”.
“The straits have already been closed, and any pretensions that U.S. military planners had of taking on Iran in this ocean have been dashed by its successful destruction of the U.S. Naval base in Bahrain, which of course is played down by U.S. media whose low IQ”
Surely battleships are not sailing up and down and through the Straits of Hormuz?
Are they actually in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman?
If these American bases are where American ships are reloaded, looks to me live American war planners haven’t done their homework. Are fighter jets also reloaded there.
If https://togoda.com/ was running it would have answered these questions most accurately.
Going after American Air Bases in the Gulf now makes a lot of sense.
There are reports several F-15 jets have crashed in Kuwait with the crews ejecting safely. There is one piece of footage where the plane just seems to drop straight down, no doubt the pilot trying to regain control before the plane hits the ground out of sight behind a palm tree in the way. The report says the US tried to say it was the result of friendly fire, but more than one? It doesn’t appear to have been hit, it just seems to drop, so maybe with them all being F-15s the Iranians have some kind of electronic warfare that incapacitates this jet? What ever the cause it’s not good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVFT-i7jqAo (F-15 @ 1m 35)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7QGNWR1BPk (5m 47)
Middle East crisis live: Kuwait mistakenly shoots down three US fighter planes, as US as Iran says ‘trumps reckless’ attacks threaten regional stability
well done kuwait lovely stuff
shoot down a few more lol
Get a load of this doozy: “Benjamin Netanyahu escaped from Israel and ended up being protected by the country which pulled off the Holocaust.” The what? The author of this piece just showed that he doesn’t know shit from shampoo. He then lambasted “low IQ journalists”, apparently ignorant of the fact that he is among them. The hollowco$t, another fabricated event by Shlomo and the jew crew, what a f*cking imbecile.
please iran sink that damn US carrier
now that the epstein files have shown so many in the UK government
are being blackmailed by mossad, surely its time to show thenm the door
it was obvious starmer was nor working for the UK
importing in all the refugees that israel expelled
Its s aid that ” the enemy of my enemy, is my friend”
israel is not and never has beena freiund of the UK or the USA
remember Nutenyahu ” Palestine today tomorrow Amercia ”
we should support iran and clear out the jews from the UK and USA governments
Good analysis. American ships should remain trapped inside the Straits. There they will exhausted and be destroyed piecemeal. Diego Garcia should also be destroyed, as should the British base in Cyprus (more to send a clear message to the Brits). Military targets in Israel are obvious, but critical civilian infrastructure should also be destroyed. The aim must be to collapse the Israeli state for good. Power stations, desalination plants, TV and radio stations should be targeted. Points of entry for aid from the US and its European vassals should be destroyed. Ports and airports – especially ports as the sea is the only way to seriously resupply. Destroying airports will also make it difficult for Israelis to flee the country as it collapses. That will itself hasten the collapse as the populace becomes increasingly restless.
Sink the US ducks ! arabian sea is nice deep .
REGIMECHANGE IN UK/USA +israhell !
to fight their treats to the world !
they are the only + most troublemakers .
REGIMECHANGE IN UK/USA +israhell !
to fight their threats to the world !
they are the only + most troublemakers .
guy reis brown @
fantastic i agree 100% as do everyone i work with
go for it rupert lowe
@M
what you have against ragheats ?
must be a desease . get a Pfizer shot !