IRGC claims they are being used to house US troops that left their base (in the case of Bahrain) and/or intelligence ops.
Their actual current explanation is that they can't control their armed forces
The general strategy makes a lot of sense for a desperate regime: Instead of striking Israel(densest AA network in the world, long flight path so lots of time to intercept) they will force US to expend AA material all over theater and make US allies question credibility of defense. It's not like only hitting Israel or US will improve their reputation.
The issue is that they are also attacking their closest friends in the region, as opposed to the other gulf nations which were merely pressuring the US not to attack due to fear.
They have thrown the stone in the metaphorical glass house towards the oil facilities very early in the conflict.
I think this is more an issue of mismanagement rather than strategy. They probably do have a very acute command and control issue due to the strikes.
It's also a good preview of how Iran with nuclear weapons would play out
RAF base is on "sovereign British land", A vestige of colonialism. Technically not EU.
>While the Republic of Cyprus was not the target, let me be clear: we stand collectively, firmly and unequivocally with our Member States in the face of any threat.
> the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (SBA), is a British Overseas Territory that consists of two separate areas on the island of Cyprus.
Who is Iran?
The tiny minority of people with guns to everyone's heads?
The entity acting right now is a small ruling clique presenting themselves as 'Iran'.
A regime loses legitimacy to act like that when they don't have internal legitimacy - or does not act with legitimacy.
Iran is supporting massive conflicts in Yemen, and is building non-defensive weapons capabilities.
That does not make US or Iran automatically 'the good guys' as they have their own lack of legitimacy.
It's all shades of grey, but there are lighter and darker shades.
Hideous double-speak in this article.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/01/uk-to-allow...
We're already seen those "defensive strikes" wipe out a school. This is an unprovoked, reckless, criminal attack, the perpetrators of which should be sent to the Hague.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj98egkl7l1o https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/20/what-are-chago...
This is probably military strategy 101 not to push your enemies together when they are having a rift
> The US-Israeli strikes were launched after negotiations to limit Iran's nuclear programme ended without a deal. The UK did not participate.
That's called Imperialism and was common among european powers in the 19th century