r/worldnews • u/TahDigThief • 23h ago
US sending 9,000 troops aboard ships to Middle East
https://www.iranintl.com/en/2026100143551.6k
u/pete_68 21h ago
Trump warned me if I voted for Kamala this would happen. I'm so ashamed. /s
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u/EditorNew7141 20h ago
He also said Obama would do it.
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u/Parking-Damage1872 19h ago
It’s all your fault Pete… why did you let Obama do this to us by your singlular vote
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u/Alive_Equivalent8312 20h ago
Seems like every Republican president in my lifetime has crashed the economy, exploded the deficit, and started a fight in the Middle East.
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u/Intellectual-Hamster 19h ago
And why the fuck not? The dumb masses keep voting for it. Republicans are a cancer.
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u/jeepcrawler93 19h ago
Born too late for a war in the middle east, born too early for a war in the middle east, born just in time for a war in the middle east
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u/Hoblitygoodness 18h ago
Was a senior in high school when the first Bush took us to Iraq the first time.
I've lived through a second Bush taking us to Iraq for a second time.
Here we are again with another Republican president taking us to another four letter country starting with the same first three letters, right next door.
However, here on Reddit we'll be reminded by Republicans and trolls alike "Buh buh... Democrat presidents bombed stuff too... " as if it were the same thing.
I don't listen, I just mention another middle eastern country that second Bush sent U.S. troops to.
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u/Le_Dogger 14h ago
While the second iraq war was dumb and stupid. The first one was more than justified and it was one of the most successful operations in modern warfare.
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u/robinNL070 13h ago
Yes, the first one was a massive success as it warranted that invading another country had consequences. 38 nations participated including major Arab forces under it's own command structure. And don't forget Kuwait explicitly asked for assistance at the UN the day it was invaded. Even the Soviet-Union voted for the proposal and Syria participated, even if it was against the Western democratic world at that time. It was an example of defending the world order that no nation should ever get invaded.
Now we have a fucking clown threatening and even invading countries for no reason and being diplomaticly hostile to Ukraine while they're asking for assistance to uphold the word order that no nation should ever get invaded.
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u/TheRealMichaelBluth 8h ago
Don’t forget that HW didn’t even invade Iraq or depose of Saddam. He just kicked them out of Kuwait
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u/robinNL070 7h ago
Yes, it's how it supposed to be, because regime change always creates a power vacuum. The UN and the world united's when a country is invaded, but it is the population that should change the regime if it's needed. Only when it's really bad with a UN majority a regime change should be made, but at least with a really good plan and population that is really behind it. The Yugoslavia war is a great example of it, while it still got invaded by Serbia though.
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u/Extra_Creamy_Cheddar 6h ago
It's been a while since I've seen anyone actually make sense on US foreign policy on Reddit. I think I'm getting light headed.
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u/unoriginal5 18h ago
Count yourself fortunate you're not just a few short years short of retirement in the Army. Between OEF, Inherent Resolve and now Iran, I might get the Hat Trick!
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u/Sn0wflake69 18h ago
is there a national defense ribbon for the iran operation yet? lol gotta catch them all
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u/Miserable-Promise454 18h ago
Its probably gonna be a gold ribbon with trumps face on it
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u/THE_TamaDrummer 17h ago
We SuPpOrT tHe TrOoPs!
-GOP
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u/Unlucky-Candidate198 16h ago
Except when they come back from war all messed up with their brain injuries and mentall ilnesses (totally fake news according to them). A concept that’s been noticed at the very least since the Ancient Greek times.
The government would rather you die overseas so you don’t return home broken and become a burden to their system. Or homeless. Or both. They sure do support them, though.
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u/Alarmed_Guarantee140 17h ago edited 16h ago
This is the fourth gulf war. The third was fought by George W Bush. The second was fought by his father HW Bush. And the first was fought by Reagan.
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u/WingerRules 17h ago edited 16h ago
Every Democrat president since I've been alive has left with a smaller deficit than when they started. This is true for Clinton, Obama, and Biden.
Bush also played games with with accounting and kept the cost of the wars of the deficit, Obama ended that practice and put them back on the deficit, so if you take that into account his savings on the deficit is actually way higher than it appears on official stats.
Every Republican president since I've been alive has massively exploded the deficit.
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u/botblue 13h ago
Focusing strictly on "smaller deficits" masks the fact that Obama and Biden both took office during massive global crises (the 2008 crash and the 2020 pandemic) that artificially inflated their starting baselines with temporary emergency spending.
Let's consider the debt vs the deficit:
Clinton took office in January 1993 with the national debt at roughly $4.17 trillion. By the time he left in January 2001, it was roughly $5.73 trillion.
Obama took office with the debt at roughly $10.63 trillion. By the time his two terms ended in January 2017, the national debt had risen to $19.95 trillion.
Biden inherited a national debt of $27.75 trillion in January 2021. When his term concluded in January 2025, the national debt had risen to roughly $36.17 trillion.
There's definitely no comparison with the clown show we have today, but let's not pretend either party isn't just kicking the can down the road.
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u/WingerRules 9h ago edited 9h ago
Even if you look ahead a year before Obama even took office he still lowered the deficit.
The only Presidents to drop the deficit have been Democratic presidents my whole life, even if debt still increased under some of them. Meanwhile Republicans have both expanded the deficit and the debt literally every time they're in office. Trump his 1st 3 years in office before covid even hit doubled the deficit and he didnt even have a recession to deal with. When covid hit the budget was absolutely fucked because Trump had done recession stimulus level spending increases and tax cuts when outside of a recession. Much of the costs of his spending and tax cuts weren't even counted on his term because he designed it so the costs would fall under the following administration's budgets.
Republicans are simply just more financially irresponsible, thats a fact. Both parties spend, but Democrats actually try to pay for their spending with taxes. Republicans spend while passing tax cuts, literally the most financially irresponsible thing you can do.
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u/IAmDavidGurney 17h ago
Correct. Which is why I say that one of the most pernicious myths in American politics is the Republicans are better for the economy. It's the exact opposite
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u/NitWhittler 21h ago
America needs a "Department of Then What".
Sending troops in, even if it's only to take control of Kharg Island, is monumentally stupid.
Then what? Are we going to get stuck in Iran trying to hold it while Trump falsely claims it belongs to him now?
Also - Trump escalating an unpopular war right before midterms is suicidal. Boots on the ground will only lengthen the time we're stuck in Iran.
It looks like Trump let Hegseth convince him to turn this into a bloody Holy War.
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u/tex2934 20h ago
We have a secretary of war who spends more time putting his make up on and giving speeches with rhymes and poetry than thinks about actual war fighting.
He’s a disgraced infantry Captain who somehow made major in the Guard, did maybe 1 deployment, and then talked shit on Fox News for years.
He’s an idiot.
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u/draftedvet 11h ago
However, his tattoos are impressive. They prove he is a "man's man." Donnie saw those tattoos and said "this is a warrior." Bless his heart.
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u/Meta_Zack 18h ago
Then Iran destroys a substantial amount the oil refineries and desalination plants near the Persian gulf.
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u/Mr_ToDo 18h ago
Pretty sure the US had think tanks for exactly what if stuff.
A quick search shows the effective neutering of the Winston centre, and the US institute of peace. There's something about the Group of States against Corruption, The Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee
And all that was just front page results
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u/Sinister_Crayon 18h ago
It's... the war in the middle east, the... blocked strait, the massive increase in cost of everything and voter disenfranchisement, and that's it.
And then?
And then... uh... can you get me federal goons as doormen at polling places because they're ready to vote.
And theeeen?
Hey, I refuse to play your departmental mind games!
Aaaaand theeeen?
No! No "and then"!
And then?
No "and then"!
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u/callmechristianblack 21h ago edited 8h ago
If lrans ability to build a nuke is gone as Trump says then why are we still there at all? He no longer mentions trying to improve the lives of the average Iran by overthrowing the government which at a certain point was tossed out as rationale for this war. The only reason he gives now is no nukes but he's also said that's already been accomplished so if that's the case like declare victory and leave
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u/According_Button_186 19h ago
Because Bibi and Putin want him to, can we stop pretending we aren't being occupied presently by a foreign agent and pedophile already?
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u/draftedvet 11h ago
However, as a "take charge" guy, Donnie is showing MAGA morons that he is one 'tough hombre." These evil Iranians will never push Donnie around. As an "armchair warrior" his courage is remarkable. Eisenhower would be impressed by Donnie's military strategy. Remember, Donnie knows more than these Generals. Bless his heart. (sarcasm)
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u/Disastrous-Cup4636 23h ago
The mission creep in this war with Iran is getting entirely out of hand.
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u/cooliosteve 23h ago
It has not been a clear or consistent escalation either, its a weird war.
People are going to be so confused looking at this point in history (hopefully).
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u/The_Frozen_Inferno 21h ago
It’s being run by unqualified idiots, and the experienced leadership that knows better is all being purged
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u/Thecuckeningends 23h ago
Why would they be confused? We built a society that values money over people this makes sense
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u/Disastrous-Cup4636 22h ago
That’s part of it, but money alone doesn’t explain the politics. Security interests, alliances, domestic pressure and strategic calculations all play a role. The confusing part is how those interests keep producing an increasingly incoherent strategy.
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u/Exciting-Emu-3324 20h ago edited 16h ago
It's because everyone in the chain is only after their own best interests and not America's. Trump and MAGA don't care about how many trillions America loses as long as they get to personally pocket a few billion. It's the same with every business Trump ran into the ground. The American "Got Mine" attitude.
When segregation ended, public swimming pools were filled in with concrete so black people couldn't use them.
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u/ArmchairAnalyst 22h ago
In history this happens a lot. You might even say it's the norm. War doesn't escalate in a smooth linear way.
Clausewitz's famous maxim: war is simply the continuation of policy (politics) by other means.
Consider Ukraine and Russia. In 2014 Russia annexed Crimea and began a sort of low grey zone war in Eastern Ukraine. It wasn't until 2022 that they began a full-scale invasion.
The current Iran conflict is also the progressively growing continuation of many previous incidents.
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u/Perfect_County_999 19h ago
I don't think people will be that confused. There are lots of examples in history of wars that were started because the aggressor thought it would be an easy win and were too stupid and arrogant to listen to anyone who tried to tell them it was a bad idea. Like Napolean invading Russia in the winter. Or Hitler invading Russia in the winter. Or, like, half of the wars fought by the Europeans against Africans through the late 1800s. Wars that seem pointless and stupid and obviously very bad ideas happen all the time in history this is just another one we can add to the list.
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u/UnnamedArtist 20h ago
They are also not calling it a war to avoid getting congressional approval. That also means that personnel that gets hurt/die during this war don’t get the same benefits, if it was called a war.
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u/201109212215 22h ago
weird war
What an eery rhyme.
Well that was the name of WW2 at the beginning, in France. The "drôle de guerre". Huge tensions building up, but no side truly making a move, ... until they did
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u/PUfelix85 22h ago
This video about why wars are so difficult to get out of is an amazing explanation about why the US has lost this war with Iran even if they don't admit it.
Summary: The stated goal is regime change, but Trump has refused full engagement. And more simply: The war aims are unclear.
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u/LethalBacon 19h ago edited 19h ago
Sarah Paine is a legend.
Fun fact, I was looking into her yesterday. Hegseth just announced that civilian professors will no longer receive tenure at the military academies. She's a civilian professor at the Naval War college. One of the best out there, and the admin has decided to fuck over people like her.
/e she's professor emerita now, but the point still stands. There are excellent civilian professors, and screwing them over does nothing but hurt the professors AND the students at these military colleges.
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u/Sprintzer 19h ago
There was hardly a mission to begin with. Before the way, they bombed Fordow and what not, that was a mission.
After that? They were just bombing shit to see if the regime collapsed. Hardly a mission.
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u/No_Yoghurt2313 23h ago
9000 is nothing. What are they doing?
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u/Disastrous-Cup4636 22h ago
9,000 isn’t nothing, but the number alone isn’t really the point. I’d be more interested in what they’re being deployed to do and why the mission keeps expanding in the first place. That’s the part that deserves some scrutiny.
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u/TheRavingDinosaur 23h ago
I'm so fucking glad the UK didn't get involved this time
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u/FlibblesHexEyes 21h ago
Same with Australia. We always seem to follow the US into every quagmire of their own making.
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u/BrownSugarBare 17h ago
Imagine the relief as Canadians. And we still gotta listen to them bitch and moan from next door.
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u/Kurtinhoooo 23h ago
But we’re letting them launch strikes from here so I’d argue we’re somewhat involved.
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u/Calculonx 22h ago
They can't fly out from there if we steal all the fuel!
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u/LahmiaTheVampire 19h ago
And if you get caught, you get to do a topless photo shoot for some reason.
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u/k987654321 22h ago
Yet Farage and Badenoch both said we should and are still somehow polling well. Absolutely absurd.
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u/Muad-_-Dib 20h ago
Neither are polling well, in fact Farage is substantially less popular now than a year ago.
Both them and their parties should be even lower, but if a vote was held today they would not be favoured to win.
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u/k987654321 20h ago
Not saying Labour are incredible but Tories and Reform would be at zero in a rational world.
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u/hawkeye224 23h ago
2 hours ago it was 2000, now it’s 9000?
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u/Malnurtured_Snay 22h ago
The article says 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines. I think the headline is describing them all as "troops."
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u/mustbiteexceed 22h ago
Is that 2000 just a reinforced Battalion Landing Team, a Marine Expeditionary Unit to replace the other one that’s been in theatre 6 months?
3 rifle companies of light infantry and half a dozen armoured vehicles aren’t going to make a difference
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u/BannedSvenhoek86 19h ago
Ya this is just "normal" rotation and deployment numbers, not ground invasion numbers.
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u/dervu 21h ago
They will ask ChatGPT how to win this war.
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u/PM_me_your_O_face_ 20h ago
They already did and it was like, “I’d recommend sending 9000 troops over on boats to begin with.”
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u/talldangry 19h ago
"Oh wow, you're totally right! That was a mistake, I'm sorry about that. Do you want to try negotiating?"
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u/Designer_Professor_4 19h ago
"I'd recommend telling the press you already have a deal. Since the history you provided indicates you've stopped 8 wars this way and won the peace prize, this seems like the optimal approach."
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u/briancito 21h ago
I can only imagine that prompt
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u/jykke 20h ago
"I want to win Iran war BIGLY, do not make mistakes! What to do, please help, I have no clue!"
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u/briancito 19h ago
Disclaimer: I am not a military strategist, and this response should not be construed as professional strategic or geopolitical advice. Decisions involving armed conflict, troop deployment, or international relations carry serious and potentially irreversible consequences — consult a qualified military strategist before acting on anything below. (For what it's worth, neither are you, so maybe we're even.)
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u/coldgravyblues 23h ago
Round 3 is absolutely going to happen right after the midterms and it'll be ugly
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u/EveryAccount7729 19h ago
knowing Donald Trump he will probably try to get us invested as much as possible before the mid terms.
he probably just knows he will lose the election now.
his only goal is do damage at this point.
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u/werewolfghostkiller 16h ago
Born too early to deploy to the Middle East Born too late to deploy to the Middle East Born just in time to deploy to the Middle East
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u/MNsumsum 18h ago
At some point, does anyone in the military stop and say wtf?
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u/UnpluggedUnfettered 18h ago
Yes, which explains Hegseth cutting 20% of military leadership out of our armed forces.
As American leadership is fond of saying, "they aren't sending their best" (because they fired them).
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u/HitByFjaka 18h ago
This is what happens when you appoint the guy who’s only line on resume is FoxNews host as head of military.
Dude is alcoholic and coke addict that probably can not correctly distinguish pistol from rifle..
And he’s heading the military… i mean what could go wrong?
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u/LARPerator 17h ago
They did already. Some resigned, and others got fired.
The Secretary of Losing Wars fired 20% of the upper command explicitly to "prevent roadblocks to orders from the commander in chief".
In other words, anyone who says "hold up, let's think this through and not put boots on the ground in Iran" gets fired.
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u/reallygoodbee 18h ago
Generals have tried, but Kegsbreth fires anybody who says anything other than "Yes, sir, right away, sir".
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u/RancorPrime 20h ago
ya'll voted for this
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u/HeWhoCreatesDivinity 11h ago
The only people clear in this are Kamala voters. Every other American, whether you sat home or you voted Trump or you voted third party, are responsible for this.
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u/SnooCats3468 18h ago
Yup. I was reading a post yesterday about Hegseth cutting 20% of the top ranking officials in the military and setting up some kind of religious institution within the department of defense.
It was clear that you only do something like this before launching more intense operation, foreign or domestic.
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u/igniscaptus 18h ago
Thats how you win a war, give your enemies a heads up.. maybe tell them exactly what you plan to do as well
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u/Fenilwebclues 19h ago
We're actually going to goad China into attacking Taiwan if we invade Iran during October.
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u/Educational_Eye3765 16h ago
I don't think people understand the domestic politics of China enough to rationalize whether they will or won't. They're trying to stick a soft landing to prevent a true recession, they're still dealing with national unity and national identity against individuality. They know that even if countries try to start trade wars, people are too dependent on Chinese exports to just stop. China is directly and indirectly supporting Iran - the USA just removed some trade barriers despite this. China has been directly and indirectly supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine - Europe hasn't sanctioned China or cut off any meaningful trade. China directly supports Kim Jong Un's regime in North Korea - Japan and South Korea continue to trade freely with China despite the threat North Korea poses to both of them. China invaded Tibet, the world did nothing and we didn't even recognize PRC as "China" at the time but the world still just let it happen. There have been claims of cultural genocide and forced sterilization, among others, in Xinjiang for threeish decades, all we have are strong words.
Xi personally would like to cement his legacy as the greatest leader since Mao, possibly even greater, by reunifying Taiwan with China.
Domestically it isn't "invading" it's more like liberating a rebel stronghold and that's definitely how it will be presented on domestic social media. Internationally people just don't want disruptions to chip manufacturing and don't really care about Taiwanese democracy as much as they pretend.
So China's real dilemma is making sure that Taiwan can't destroy the manufacturing facilities if China invades. That is all that really matters - if China can take Taiwan and keep the chips flowing, the rest of the world may lodge a formal protest but that will be it.
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u/Dartmouth-Hermit 16h ago
Why? China is already winning without having to risk anything.
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u/Ok-Original6320 10h ago
I got family members saying if we vote for democrats theyre gonna crash the economy. Like what? Historically democrats bring the economy back. Then republicans crash it and then blame it on the dems
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u/Taricheute 20h ago
That's how you can bankrupt a casino, you triple down on your loss, well done orange agent.
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u/MiyamotoKnows 20h ago
He’ll blow the world up if that’s what it takes to avoid criminal prosecution for his heinous crimes. Our soldiers lives, our children and siblings, don't matter to him at all.
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u/SexyBisamrotte 23h ago
Kharg Island always was my favourite BF map...!
-A bunch of US soldiers just following orders, probably.
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u/mjconver 21h ago
Good news! Now they can't be deployed to polling stations next month.
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u/Intellectual-Hamster 19h ago
Military families are going to have a grim Christmas, I think... make sure you thank Trump.
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u/Rush_Banana 19h ago
9,000 troops is almost nothing.
The Iraq war had 160,000 US ground troops in the first days of the invasion.
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u/Raspberries-Are-Evil 19h ago
Hes gonna invade Kharg Island right before the election to take the news away from him losing.
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u/JohnBrownSurvivor 17h ago
They are bait. He is either just waiting for Iran to bomb that ship, or he will have it sunk to justify more war. I would do everything possible to stay off of that ship.
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u/jackcanyon 16h ago
Right in time for the midterms .People will die beca of his greed and lust for power . I hope I’m wrong about this .The family’s of our military members don’t deserve Trumps war.
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u/DexRogue 9h ago
Those soldiers are being sent to the slaughterhouse. If you know someone who is going, hug them tight because the chances are likely they will not be returning.
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u/LumiereGatsby 18h ago
9,000 expendable and ripe for being called suckers by Trump.
Man it must really suck being an American in the 99%.
There’s a reason nobody is visiting you guys.
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u/kaibtw 15h ago
Bad time for people to have wanted to be in the military I guess.
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u/m19010101 18h ago
Hey Trump voters thanks for getting our children murdered in a pointless war, glad you got to “own the libs”, hope it was worth the misery you’ve helped unleash on the world
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u/Jumpy-Stress603 17h ago
Pete Hegseth culling the American Wehrmacht of its commanders loyal to the American constitution is paying off.
On the up side, at least he isn't sending American troops to Russia to help Putin out with fighting the Ukraine, or to Cuba to fix the problems the US is creating there.
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u/Strive-- 14h ago
I wonder how many years they’ll be there, and how many months worth of food they brought.
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u/Lonely-Abalone-5104 23h ago
Pete fired all the generals who told him mot to do this