24 US Warships READY in the Middle East | 90 Targets Hit Overnight — Transcript

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1. 0:01American forces just hit Iran again.
2. 0:03Nearly 90 targets [music] struck in a
3. 0:05single night in the second wave of
4. 0:07attacks in under 48 hours.
5. 0:10And it's not happening in isolation.
6. 0:12Right now, more than 20 Navy warships
7. 0:15are sitting in the waters across the
8. 0:16Middle East, [music] in position, ready
9. 0:18to move. Two rounds of strikes
10. 0:21back-to-back, [music]
11. 0:22two aircraft carriers on station, a
12. 0:24fleet that's grown to one of the largest
13. 0:26concentrations of American naval power
14. 0:28in the region
15. 0:29>> [music]
16. 0:29>> in over two decades.
17. 0:31This is not a small operation anymore,
18. 0:33and the numbers behind it prove it.
19. 0:36So, what actually pushed things back to
20. 0:37[music] the brink? It comes down to the
21. 0:39water. Three commercial oil tankers were
22. 0:42[music] hit while passing through the
23. 0:44Strait of Hormuz. One of them, a vessel
24. 0:46loaded with liquefied natural gas.
25. 0:49That single narrow waterway carries
26. 0:51roughly a fifth of the world's oil
27. 0:53supply every single day.
28. 0:55>> [music]
29. 0:55>> When ships start getting hit there, it's
30. 0:57not a regional problem anymore. It's a
31. 1:00global one.
32. 1:02Now, bring the president into it.
33. 1:04Standing in front of cameras at the NATO
34. 1:06summit in Turkey, [music] he said it
35. 1:07plainly, "The ceasefire is over. Not on
36. 1:10hold, not under review, over." [music]
37. 1:14And within hours, American warplanes and
38. 1:16warships were back in action.
39. 1:18>> [music]
40. 1:18>> And here's the question worth sitting
41. 1:20with. If this is what de-escalation
42. 1:22looks like, what does the next step up
43. 1:25actually mean?
44. 1:27The second wave wasn't scattered
45. 1:28randomly across the map. [music] It
46. 1:31followed a clear pattern, almost
47. 1:33entirely hugging Iran's southern
48. 1:34coastline, right along the Strait of
49. 1:37Hormuz and the Gulf waters beyond it.
50. 1:40Explosions were reported in the port
51. 1:42city of Chabahar, where a maritime
52. 1:44control tower took visible damage.
53. 1:47Bushehr was hit. So were the towns of
54. 1:49Sirik and Konarak, both sitting close to
55. 1:52the water.
56. 1:53Multiple explosions echoed through
57. 1:55Bandar Abbas, one of Iran's most
58. 1:57important port cities, [music]
59. 1:59along with power outages that followed
60. 2:01shortly after.
61. 2:03Then [music] there's Kharg Island. This
62. 2:05one is worth pausing on.
63. 2:07Kharg is the single most important oil
64. 2:09export terminal Iran has, responsible
65. 2:12for shipping out the vast majority of
66. 2:14the country's crude oil.
67. 2:16American forces reportedly struck
68. 2:17facilities there, though notably avoided
69. 2:20hitting the actual oil pipelines and
70. 2:22storage [music] tanks directly.
71. 2:24Why leave that piece standing? Because a
72. 2:26fully choked Kharg Island doesn't just
73. 2:28hurt Iran.
74. 2:30>> [music]
75. 2:30>> It sends oil prices climbing worldwide,
76. 2:32and that's a lever nobody wants to pull
77. 2:34all the way. Not yet, anyway.
78. 2:38But not every target sat near the coast.
79. 2:41Far to the northeast, roughly 900 miles
80. 2:43from the strait itself, cruise missiles
81. 2:46struck a railway bridge near a town
82. 2:48called Akkala.
83. 2:49That's a strange outlier on the map. It
84. 2:52suggests the target list isn't just
85. 2:54about the Strait of Hormuz anymore.
86. 2:56>> [music]
87. 2:56>> It's about disrupting how Iran moves
88. 2:58military equipment across the entire
89. 3:00country.
90. 3:01So, ask yourself this.
91. 3:03If strikes are already reaching 900
92. 3:05miles inland, how much further does this
93. 3:07expand before somebody blinks?
94. 3:10This wasn't one type of weapon doing all
95. 3:12the work. It was a layered attack,
96. 3:15>> [music]
97. 3:15>> and understanding the layers tells you a
98. 3:17lot about the strategy behind it. Start
99. 3:19with the sea.
100. 3:21Warships positioned in and around the
101. 3:23strait targeted Iranian air defense
102. 3:25systems, [music] coastal radar sites,
103. 3:28and small fast attack boats used by
104. 3:30Iran's naval forces. More [music] than
105. 3:3360 of them in the opening round alone.
106. 3:36Taking out radar and air defense first
107. 3:38isn't random. It's the standard opening
108. 3:41move. Blind the enemy before you go
109. 3:43after anything else. So, what comes next
110. 3:46faces less [music] resistance.
111. 3:48Then there's the air.
112. 3:50Fighter aircraft and long-range bombers
113. 3:52handled a large share of the target
114. 3:54list, striking military logistics sites,
115. 3:57[music] missile storage facilities, and
116. 3:59drone storage locations scattered along
117. 4:01the coast. And then, further inland,
118. 4:04cruise missiles launched from ships
119. 4:06[music] and submarines reached targets
120. 4:08that aircraft either couldn't reach
121. 4:09safely or weren't worth risking a pilot
122. 4:12[music] for, like that bridge near
123. 4:14Akala.
124. 4:16Iran didn't [music] sit back and take it
125. 4:17quietly, either.
126. 4:19In response, Iranian forces launched
127. 4:21missiles and drones at American military
128. 4:24installations [music] in two neighboring
129. 4:25countries, Kuwait and Bahrain.
130. 4:29Air defense systems in both nations were
131. 4:31activated, and sirens [music] sounded
132. 4:33across major cities as interceptors went
133. 4:35to work overhead.
134. 4:37Bahrain in particular matters here
135. 4:40because it's home to the headquarters of
136. 4:41the entire American naval presence in
137. 4:44the region.
138. 4:45Here's the uncomfortable part. Iran's
139. 4:48own military has openly said it will
140. 4:50expand its response to other American
141. 4:52bases in the region if the United States
142. 4:54strikes again.
143. 4:56So, the real question isn't whether
144. 4:58there's a third round, it's how wide the
145. 5:00map gets when it happens.
146. 5:04While all of this plays out on land,
147. 5:06there's a second story happening on the
148. 5:08water, and it might be even more
149. 5:10important for what comes next. Central
150. 5:13Command confirmed that more than 20 Navy
151. 5:15warships are currently patrolling
152. 5:17[music] across the Middle East, but more
153. 5:19than 20 barely covers it. According to
154. 5:22fleet [music] tracking from naval
155. 5:23analysts, the real number sits closer to
156. 5:2624 warships, and that count doesn't even
157. 5:29include support [music] ships, oilers,
158. 5:31or two additional destroyers positioned
159. 5:33in the Eastern Mediterranean. [music]
160. 5:35At the center of it all are two aircraft
161. 5:38carriers, the USS Abraham Lincoln
162. 5:41carrying a full air wing that includes
163. 5:43[music] stealth fighters, electronic
164. 5:45warfare aircraft, and early warning
165. 5:47planes, and the USS George H.W. Bush
166. 5:51running a wing of more than two dozen
167. 5:53fighter jets of its own.
168. 5:55Two carriers [music] operating in the
169. 5:57same theater at the same time is not a
170. 5:59small deployment. Historically, that's
171. 6:02the kind of posture reserved for the
172. 6:04most serious moments.
173. 6:07Alongside them, there's a [music] full
174. 6:09amphibious ready group built around the
175. 6:11USS Boxer carrying thousands of Marines
176. 6:14and their own aviation support, plus
177. 6:17another Marine unit already stationed in
178. 6:19the region aboard a separate group of
179. 6:21ships.
180. 6:22Add in roughly 15 destroyers spread
181. 6:24across the fleet, and what you're
182. 6:26looking at is one of the largest
183. 6:28concentrations of American naval power
184. 6:30in the Middle East in over [music] two
185. 6:32decades.
186. 6:33So, why does this matter beyond the
187. 6:35headline number?
188. 6:36Because warships aren't just there to
189. 6:38launch missiles. They're there to
190. 6:40control the water, protect shipping
191. 6:42lanes, and make [music] absolutely sure
192. 6:44Iran understands that closing the Strait
193. 6:47of Hormuz isn't actually an option, no
194. 6:49matter how many times its officials
195. 6:51threaten to try.
196. 6:53And that leaves one last question
197. 6:55hanging over everything happening right
198. 6:57now.
199. 6:58With this much firepower already sitting
200. 7:00in the water, is a third strike really a
201. 7:02matter of if or just a matter of when?
202. 7:05>> [music]
203. 7:07>> Thank you so much for watching. If you
204. 7:09enjoyed this video, don't forget to hit
205. 7:11the like button, subscribe
206. 7:12[clears throat] to the channel, and turn
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208. 7:16latest updates.
209. 7:18Now it's your turn. What do you think
210. 7:20about the second wave of US strikes on
211. 7:22Iran in less than 24 hours?
212. 7:26Do you believe this marks a major
213. 7:27escalation, [music]
214. 7:28or is it part of a broader strategy?
215. 7:31Share your thoughts in the comments
216. 7:32below. I read them all, and I'd love to
217. 7:35hear your perspective. Thanks again for
218. 7:37watching,
219. 7:38>> [music]
220. 7:38>> and I'll see you in the next video.
221. 7:55>> [music]
222. 8:02>> Mhm.