British Media: Iran War Exposes U.S. Military Shortcomings

Reference News Network reported on April 16 The British "Times" website published an article on April 11 titled "Trump Boasts of His Strength, but the Iran War Exposes the Weaknesses of the U.S. Military," authored by Mark Urban. The full text is excerpted as follows.

In the past few weeks, a disturbing scene has unfolded. U.S. President Trump launched a poorly considered war, demanding Iran's unconditional surrender, and then became mired in a stalemate over the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting him to send Vice President Pence to negotiate with Iran in an attempt to find a way out of the predicament.

This situation arose because the U.S. was unable to deliver on its president's repeated threats to use decisive military force. This military action has exposed the shortcomings of U.S. military power—many have warned of this hollow strength in recent years, which has profound implications for global stability.

One of the most conservative goals proposed by the U.S. is to prevent Iran from threatening its Gulf neighbors. Although Iran's outdated air force was destroyed in the early stages of the conflict, it has proven capable of continuously bombarding its neighbors with a large stockpile of missiles and drones prepared for this scenario. The lessons learned from the Russia-Ukraine conflict have been reaffirmed: even without the most advanced stealth fighters, a country can conduct sustained long-range strikes on enemy cities at a very low cost.

According to U.S. assessments, as many as half of Iran's long-range missile launchers and thousands of naval mines may have survived. Undoubtedly, the Iranian military has suffered heavy losses, but over the past four weeks, even with the full efforts of the U.S. and Israel to hunt them down, Iran has maintained a stable daily launch rate of about 30 missiles and 70 drones.

The U.S. military has used powerful penetrating weapons in some areas, destroying tunnel entrances leading to weapons storage facilities, but the weapon depots inside often remain unscathed. Iranian repair teams have also attempted to excavate buried equipment.

This war has come at a high cost to the U.S. According to the U.S. "New York Times," official estimates put the cost at $11 billion for the first six days of the war, with subsequent daily expenses estimated between $1 billion and $2 billion.

Last weekend, two U.S. pilots shot down over Iran were successfully rescued, showcasing U.S. resolve and courage, but several military aircraft were also lost, resulting in heavy costs. Iran's attacks on U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq destroyed several U.S. aircraft, including an airborne early warning plane, highlighting the negligence in U.S. defensive measures.

Looking at Iran's actions in the Strait of Hormuz, some estimate that the number of naval mines laid by Iran is in the single digits, but with just a few mines and a handful of drone attacks on tankers, Iran has been able to achieve its objectives.

The U.S. Navy has not even attempted to reopen the strait by force. Admittedly, the U.S. military has conducted hundreds of strikes against Iranian defensive facilities in the region, targeting underground bunkers hiding fast boats and anti-ship missile bases, but for the thousands of ships trapped in the Gulf, none of this has made a substantial difference.

Despite Trump's ambitious plans, the U.S. clearly strives to avoid putting its naval vessels in danger. So, the failure to keep this critical global shipping route open raises the question: is it due to a lack of U.S. will, or is it that their capabilities simply cannot achieve this?

U.S. Navy officers have stated that to forcefully reopen the strait and escort tankers, the military would need dozens of destroyers or frigates, but the U.S. Navy does not have such a scale of forces in the region, and even if they were to act forcibly, it would be difficult to win in a confrontation.

If war were to break out again, a large-scale mobilization of naval reserves might be able to turn the tide, but this would take months, and no one believes such a move is feasible. The founder of the "Sea Power Theory," U.S. military theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan, proposed that freedom of navigation is "the cornerstone of American foreign policy," but the signs of the past few weeks suggest that this principle may have been abandoned.

Abandoning the mission of being the ultimate guarantor of freedom of the high seas since 1945 aligns with Trump's "America First" philosophy. However, this move may raise concerns among multiple countries about what threats future shipping, vital to their economies, may face. (Translated by Xu Yanhong)