Iran Targets US Bases in Gulf in Retaliation for Airstrikes

[lostincalifornia]

Iran launched attacks targeting US military bases around the Persian Gulf in retaliation for American and Israeli airstrikes on its nuclear and government sites on Saturday, Iranian state media reported.

Iran’s state-run Nour News, which is close to Iran’s security apparatus, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used heavy missiles to target several bases simultaneously including Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, as well as the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.

Bahrain said a service center for the US Fifth Fleet was targeted in a missile attack, while CNN reported that Qatar intercepted two other missiles in its airspace.

It’s the first time the Islamic Republic has launched attacks on all of America’s sites in the region, something it has refrained from doing in the past when it usually resorted to what it’s described as “limited” retaliatory strikes against the US during periods of heightened tensions. Tehran targeted Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar last June in response to Israeli and US strikes.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-28/iran-targets-us-bases-in-gulf-in-retaliation-for-airstrikes

[Coldwater]

1. The videos are terrifying

https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/2/28/moment-of-iran-strike-on-us-military-base-in-bahrain

[bigtree]

2. the folly of putting American lives at risk like this can't be understated

...something that successive presidents, republicans and Democratic, have successfully avoided
for decades.

Making that risk to American lives about him and the election he tried to steal is a slap in the face to all Americans.

[OC375]

3. Has Iran substantially hit anything yet?

I’ve got to assume a few get through. Any casualties of US troops? I haven’t seen any reported just warnings.

[lostincalifornia]

4. To coin a phrase from Robert S. McNamara "The Fog of War", I would be very skeptical about any information coming out

that hasn't been verified by multiple sources.

The complexity of military conflict cannot account for all the variables involved in war, and this contributes to uncertainty and human error that likely leads to miscalculations, unexpected consequences, and unnecessary death.

Iran is going to view this as an existential threat.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. MaddowBlog-Pentagon's Hegseth slams journalists for emphasizing U.S. troop deaths in Iran war

The Trump administration is still trying to figure out how to talk about service members’ fatalities — and its efforts are not going well.

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/pentagons-hegseth-slams-journalists-for-emphasizing-u-s-troop-deaths-in-iran-war

The comments generated immediate criticism for their apparent callousness, but that didn’t stop Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from making matters worse. With regard to weapons that killed American service members abroad, the former Fox News host said Monday: “Every once in a while, you might have a squirter that makes its way through.”

On Wednesday, the Pentagon chief kept going. The New Republic reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took time from his Wednesday briefing to complain about the media coverage of President Donald Trump’s unauthorized war on Iran.

‘When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,’ Hegseth said. ‘I get it — the press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality.’

In other words, the beleaguered secretary believes that independent news organizations covered the war deaths of American service members not because the fatalities were important, but as part of a plot on the part of journalists to undermine the president......

Soon after, during a White House press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt: “Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?”

The president’s chief spokesperson replied that the Republican administration expects journalists to “report on the success” of the mission. Leavitt added that she believes it’s “a fact” that the nation’s free press “does only want to make the president look bad.”

The White House’s focus, in other words, isn’t solely on a foreign war. Closer to home, it’s also about pushing a falsehood about independent news organizations that prioritize coverage of fallen American soldiers.