this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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The United States shot down more drones and missiles than Israel did on Saturday night during Iran’s attack, The Intercept can report.

More than half of Iran’s weapons were destroyed by U.S. aircraft and missiles before they ever reached Israel. In fact, by commanding a multinational air defense operation and scrambling American fighter jets, this was a U.S. military triumph.

The extent of the U.S. military operation is unbeknownst to the American public, but the Pentagon coordinated a multination, regionwide defense extending from northern Iraq to the southern Persian Gulf on Saturday. During the operation, the U.S., U.K., France, and Jordan all shot down the majority of Iranian drones and missiles. In fact, where U.S. aircraft originated from has not been officially announced, an omission that has been repeated by the mainstream media. Additionally, the role of Saudi Arabia is unclear, both as a base for the United States and in terms of any actions by the Saudi military.

“U.S. intelligence estimates that half of the weapons fired by Iran failed upon launch or in flight due to technical issues,” a U.S. Air Force senior officer told The Intercept. Of the remaining 160 or so, the U.S. shot down the majority, the officer said. The officer was granted anonymity to speak about sensitive operational matters.

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[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 79 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I don’t know if this ventures into conspiracy theory territory or not but in real time, I thought the Iranians had essentially told the U.S. what was coming and to prepare for it because Iran wanted a show and to test Israel’s air defense systems without provoking a war.

When it happened, one of my friends was like, “Great. World War III.” And I said I didn’t think so because Iran announced that they had launched it all as they launched it all. You don’t announce, “Here come some bombs!” to the media when your goal is having them actually land.

[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 90 points 7 months ago (2 children)

That's not conspiratorial thinking at all, that's just geopolitical literacy. Your assessment is correct: Iran planned this carefully to avoid causing any major damage. This was pro wrestling.

Which honestly makes it sad to consider that Iran has become the more restrained, rational actor here. The US needs to put Netanyahu on a short leash. He is not worth this.

[–] APassenger@lemmy.world 32 points 7 months ago (20 children)

I suspect Netanyahu wants a Trump presidency. I don't expect him to do Biden any favors - quite the opposite, really.

[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 15 points 7 months ago (3 children)

This. The "Genocide Joe" cohort doesn't realize they are falling right into Netanyahu and Trump's plan. I mean, at least the small number of them who aren't propagandists in the first place.

[–] machinin@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

I would hold my nose to vote for Biden if my vote really counted, but I will still call him genocide Joe. If he continues down this path, I hope he is forever known as Genocide Joe. Let history know it.

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[–] aStonedSanta@lemm.ee 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This was millions and millions of tax payer dollars spent for “pro wrestling”. Damn that’s sad. 😆

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[–] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

The main point to announce it was so they would get shot down. If they had reached their targets that would be a war they would lose very quickly. This way no harm was done. But now the people in charge in Iran can tell everyone in the country look how we attacked the bad people. Kind of like when north Korea talks a bunch of shit to everyone then launches a missile to no where. They can brag about it in country how they almost fucked up Japan and no one is the wiser because the only news coming in is things they ban see internally. Iranians saw the missles and drones leave their airspace then get told lies about what happened.

[–] Belastend@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

They did the same thing back when you guys turned Qassem "Kotlett" Soleimani into a fine paste. Announcing an air strike, notifying the target in advance and declare victory. Noone was killed in their retaliatory attack.

While the Mullahs have fucked up Iran beyond recognition, their handling of crises like this is pretty good.

[–] Rookwood@lemmy.world 78 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's a lot of money we're spending because of Netanyahu's crazed bloodlust.

[–] nexusband@lemmy.world 57 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You could be spending it in Ukraine.

Hell, we may even be able to make Americans life better at home. Would be an easy way to get votes, but both parties know only a small handful of swing states decide the election, so why bother making things better when we can just spend billions in ads in five states.

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[–] bartolomeo@suppo.fi 29 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Israel: bombs a diplomatic target without warning

Iran: bombs 2 military targets with warning

USA: shoots down most of the assets that made it even close to Israel

Biden: Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “Israel really came out far ahead in this exchange”

I wonder what game they're playing.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Netanyahu is trying to stay out of prison, like Trump, so he needs conflict but not too much (losing support from his right wing coalition wounds end him) to seem strong and as a distraction and for political points. Iran doesn't want war but doesn't want to look weak and want to make a point to not let Israel think there won't be consequences, they can't just do nothing at all. Biden doesn't want war in the region and he's focused on negotiations to calm everybody down, preventing escalation. If Iran had hit something important it almost certainly would've escalated to war.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 29 points 7 months ago (7 children)

...aight so fuck Israel in a "your genocide is abhorrent and you don't deserve any support from anyone" kind of way, but if we're going to support a genocidal ethnostate anyway, at least we're doing it in a way that stops civilians from betting blown up, as opposed to handing them half a military's worth of bombs for them to drop on other civilians.

Now that that's taken care of, could we maybe take the we're planning on sending over to Israel for them to do even more genocide with, and send them to Ukraine or something so they can fight against genocide instead?

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Jordan shot down a lot. Jordan has roughly as many Palestinians as Gaza.

[–] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Jordan directly not really. The American bases in Jordan shot down the drones.

The Jordanian monarchy is heavily corrupt and bribed by America. They receive billions in weapons and bribes to suppress their population and turn the country into an American outpost near Syria and Iraq. Last year they got $1,619,118,868

A prime example was the Tower22 base that got bombed in the beginning of this year

Currently there are massive protests in Jordan against their regime.

[–] venusaur@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Apparently the drones were aimed at military targets only, unlike Israel’s attack on the embassy.

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[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not happy paying taxes to support this.

[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 28 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Shooting down Iranian dron3s and misses should not be your breaking point lol. This was the most justifiable action that has taken place since this shitshow started shitting.

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 15 points 7 months ago

It's not the breaking point (that was long ago), but it's not justifiable either. Protecting Israel no matter what crimes they commit has led us into a genocide. This merely demonstrates that the US could have protected Gazans from Israeli bombs but chose not to.

[–] nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

They were firing at military targets because Israel assassinated one of their generals. If Israel wants to start a war with Iran while they have their hands full with Gaza and Lebanon that's their perogative but the US shouldn't be enabling this insanity.

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[–] capem@startrek.website 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)
[–] doingthestuff@lemmy.world 26 points 7 months ago (11 children)

Saving lives is one of the few things I support our tax dollars being used for.

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Healthcare, here, for our people please

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[–] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network 14 points 7 months ago

Avoid those freedom potholes with pride, citizen.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 8 points 7 months ago (11 children)

The Iron Dome is looking pretty rusty... I wonder how much Likud diverted to private accounts in the Caymans.

[–] HuddaBudda@kbin.social 19 points 7 months ago

That's the real story at the bottom of this mess.

  • Israel was warned about the attack a month before it happened.

  • 4 billion dollars in US funding that was supposed to go to Israeli defense somehow didn't work.

  • US is having to privately ship weapons to Israel behind congress and senate approval.

[–] MysticDaedra@fedia.io 12 points 7 months ago

The Iron Dome only protects against short-range rockets. Israel's Arrow and Arrow II Endospheric and Exospheric anti-missile defense systems are what most of the missiles that were intercepted by Israel were shot down with.

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[–] mlg@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

mfw Israel is so well situated with the USA that they had an entire coalition force come to their aid for a tit for tat return strike

[–] Microw@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago

What is more likely?

  • UK, France and Jordan want to protect Israel (who has the most capable air defense systems in the region)

  • UK, France and Jordan hate Iran and want to counter an Iranian military operation that could destabilize the region further; and also gain momentum for pressuring Israel for concessions

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[–] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 4 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Do Houthi missiles count as Yemen or Iranian?

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[–] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Damn half failed? That’s crazy.

[–] machinin@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago (3 children)

That is what I was thinking, but also wonder if it was part of their show of power. They telegraphed their intentions fairly clearly. If they intentionally disabled half of the drones after take off, then it might simply be an additional warning. If this attack was shot down, could double the drones also be shot down? Just speculation, but I do have a feeling that there is more to it than just half malfunctioned.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)
  1. Take an estimate of how many you think they can stop, let's say 100.

  2. Set up 500 in incrementally increasing waves, give them a weeks notice it's coming, then a short warning before you launch.

  3. When some start to make it thru, flip a switch to drop some out of the next wave

You now have an accurate number for how many drones/missiles can be shot out of the sky by Israel and the US over a range of time.

This wasn't an "attack" it was pushing up and finding out exactly how much Israel can handle.

The implied threat being if Iran wanted to, they could overwhelm Israel's defense, and they now know exactly how much that would take. Along with what out of a huge range of options gets thru best.

Say they launch an actual attack, they could include a bunch of dummy ordnances delivered by the payloads most likely to be shot down, and prioritize the heaviest payloads in what's less likely to be shot down.

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