...from the IRGC and the volunteer Basij.
Decimating the traditional national and naval defense forces did not, and could not, "win" this war.
Back in March, I posted about the magnitude of the IRGC/Basij military, industrial, economic conglomerate.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221070279
To answer the question "how would they be able to resist at all?"
The IRGC and Basij have something like 40,000 bases scattered in a population of over 90 million (more than California, Texas, and Florida combined).
They have mobile launchers that are difficult to target. They have cheap drones (and are getting more). They have guys on small boats and jet skis. It is NOT a conventional army or navy, but collectively, they are able continue to do damage to neighbors and threaten tankers and container ships in the strait.
This is a criminal war and the felon starting it is perhaps the most insane mistake in history, but just think. If he had remained partners with Ukraine in the largest land war in Europe since WWII -- a war that has changed the face of modern warfare -- we would have been at the cutting edge too. But no, Hegseth was too busy making the U.S. Military more macho to think about actually modernizing to do a better job of dealing with the threat of asymmetric warfare.
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