It appears that we are cutting off all supply and escape routes in prep of a invasion of either Qeshm or Kharg Island, or maybe even both. At least that's what the speculation is online.

Iran is also stepping up it's focus on the border with Iraq and some speculate that is because Iran feels a possible boots on the ground movement may originate from that area by the Kurds, so that is why they are going so hard at them right now.

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Posted by BayouBengal51

Forest Hill, Louisiana

Member since Nov 2006

11096 posts

Posted on 7/17/26 at 6:37 pm to BayouBengal51

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Posted by BayouBengal51

Forest Hill, Louisiana

Member since Nov 2006

11096 posts

Posted on 7/17/26 at 6:39 pm to BayouBengal51

Semi long read below. TLDR Version. We are destroying their routes and methods of escape and supply, in prep for a massive operation.

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quote:
The recent U.S. strike pattern is beginning to resemble the opening phase of some of history’s largest military campaigns.

Throughout modern warfare, major offensives have often been preceded by systematic attacks on transportation networks, bridges, railways, logistics hubs, air defenses, communications, command centers, and energy infrastructure.

These are known as shaping operations: campaigns designed to isolate the battlefield, slow reinforcements, disrupt supply lines, and degrade an adversary’s ability to coordinate and sustain combat before the decisive phase of a conflict.

Historical examples include:

-Invasion of Sicily (1943): Allied air forces systematically targeted ports, railways, bridges, airfields, and communications infrastructure to isolate the battlefield before amphibious landings.

-Normandy / D-Day (1944): In the months before the invasion, Allied aircraft bombed bridges, railways, marshalling yards, and transportation hubs across France to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the beaches.

-Operation Bagration (1944): Soviet partisans sabotaged thousands of rail lines and bridges across Belarus before the Red Army offensive, crippling Germany’s ability to move troops and supplies.

-Operation Cobra (1944): Massive Allied bombing devastated German defensive positions and supply routes immediately before the breakout from Normandy, allowing ground forces to rapidly exploit the breach.

-Operation Desert Storm (1991): Coalition forces spent weeks dismantling Iraq’s air defenses, command centers, bridges, transportation routes, and logistics network before launching the ground offensive that liberated Kuwait.

-Iraq War (2003): The opening “Shock and Awe” campaign targeted command-and-control facilities, air defenses, transportation infrastructure, and strategic military assets before coalition ground forces advanced toward Baghdad.

- Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022): Russia opened the war by striking air defenses, airfields, fuel depots, bridges, logistics hubs, and command centers before advancing ground troops from multiple directions.

Recent strikes inside the Islamic Republic have increasingly focused on transportation routes, bridges, military infrastructure, and other strategic facilities rather than isolated tactical targets.

That shift has fueled growing speculation that military objectives may be expanding beyond a limited punitive campaign.

This does not prove that a ground operation is coming. Infrastructure is frequently targeted to restrict military movement, reduce operational flexibility, and increase strategic pressure without any intention of invading.

Political decisions can still alter the course of events, as they have before.

However, if strikes continue expanding to transportation networks, logistics hubs, power generation, and command-and-control systems, the campaign would increasingly resemble the battlefield-shaping operations that have preceded many of history’s largest ground offensives.