VEVAK
SENIOR MEMBER
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The sky is blue, the earth is round, rain is wet etc.
Read up a bit on cold war arms control treaties in relation to ballistic missiles and then come and tell me how much they are/aren't related to nuclear weapons.
Most of those are industrial targets. I don't think you are understanding the concept of escalation dominance.
Fairness and setting examples are not important here. If a country is forced into a war when it cannot outright capitulate the enemy and make them surrender everything (as in actually invade that country), the objective is to end the war as quickly as possible, paying the least material, economic and political costs and taking the least risk. You don't go escalating a war you wish never happened in the first place.
Escalation dominance is a strategic concept. It is not limited to minor "border skirmishes". Its like if some kid calls you gay and you knock him out cold. Whoops, his dad is Anthony Joshua. What the hell are you gonna do now? Probably wish you'd just ignored him, he's a f*cking kid after all.
Same case with Saudi. They bomb an airbase? Fine, bomb their airbase back. Sink a warship? Sink 1 or 2 of there's back. They started it, just retaliating in equal measure is embarrassing enough for them to want to cut their losses.
I've already said. There is no fantasy situation where we can just missile the shit out of Saudi Arabia and expect there to be no consequences. There is no win-win-win situation.
You don't need to force the Saudis to back down by escalating. That is too risky. You work diplomatically to encourage the UN to impose a ceasefire, you talk big to deter an enemy escalation, and you milk the war for all it is worth PR wise.
Think about why the Saudis would start a war in the first place. Would it be an escalation of a non-direct conflict into a direct conflict? Would it be an attempt to reduce Iranian influence? Or damage Iranian prestige? Pick and choose. Either of these objectives are relatively easy to dismantle, sabotage, and deny. Without escalation.
Certainly it wouldn't be a land grab, or an attempt at direct invasion.
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The ONLY reason the U.S. didn't take military action against Iranian Nuclear facilities is because THEY KNEW with a high degree of certainty that Iran wouldn't site back and think about escalation and would respond harshly!! So it's an absurd theory & it's a theory that doesn't conform to how Iran's military is structured!
Your escalation scenario with only a proportionate response is what the U.S. HOPED would be Iran's response!!! It's NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN! Not with the U.S. and NOT with Saudi Arabia!
And here is why:
1.Iran doesn't have a strong conventional Air Power advanced enough to go with the tit for tat tactics your suggesting! And Iranian missiles would need to be fired in such numbers that would overwhelm any Air Defense system and they would need to hurt & destroying some concrete at an airbase without taking out any air assets doesn't hurt!
2.Saudi's keep their fighters in heavily fortified bunkers & if they were to plan an attack on Iran they would move most of their assets to bases out of the range of Iranian precision guided ballistic missiles!
I bet you haven't seen a lot of sat images of Saudi Air Force bases & fighter bunkers! Destroying some cement & concrete at an empty Air Base would only embolden the Saudi's to continue down that path....
3.Over 70% of Iran's exports go through the Persian Gulf and without an Advanced conventional Air Force the Saudi's can maintain full Air Superiority over the Persian Gulf & Iran destroying some concrete at a few Saudi Airbases wouldn't change that! Also, Saudi Naval ports are mostly in the Red Sea not in the Persian Gulf so Iran's response would need to hurt the Saudi's financially for them to get the message!
4.Saudi's produce more Oil and have more money than Iran & have international ports outside the Persian Gulf & can maintain a tit for tat response for much longer periods. Making it a good choice for them if Iran adheres to those kind of tactics but clearly an illogical choice for Iran!
5.This idea you have in your head that Saudi Air Force is going to just fly past major Iranian Naval port & bases and only target the Air Force is NOTHING but a fictional example!
Yes if the Saudi's hit an Iranian Frigate at sea you can reciprocate in kind, if the Saudi's board an Iranian cargo ship you can again respond in kind without a full scales war & then go to the UN.... but bombing an Iranian Air Force base is a completely different story! You can't bomb someone's Air Force base and site back and claim that you never intended to start a war!
Major Air Force bases in the South are:
Omediah Air Base (Khomaini port)
Busher Air Base
Bandar Abbas Air Base
Chah Bahar Air Base
All of which are near and close to Major Iranian Ports, Naval bases, powerplants,... so if any of those bases are hit Iran can't be conservative and will have to automatically assume that they intended to hit the ports & other assets but failed...
If the Saudi's bomb an Iranian Air Force base it would be absurd to expect Iran to limit it's self to Saudi Air Force bases! War's will never be fair or humane!
So if ANY major Iranian Military base is attack, Iran will have to send a clear message & the message has to be loud and clear and it would need to hurt & then Iran goes to the UN and makes it clear that Iran's response to any further attack on Iranian territory will be met with a disproportionate & decisive response!
Firing 100's of missiles to destroy some concrete at a Saudi Air Base that more likely than not was emptied of any aircraft of worth prior to the start of the conflict would be stupid and absurd!