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Comment by zmmmmm | Hacker News Reader

Given it is reported to be successfully targeting Israel with cluster ammunitions in warheads, I am curious what stops Iran from targeting US ships even far outside the strait? I would have thought if you could send multiple missiles with cluster bombs simultaneously at short notice it would be very difficult to counter and impose catastrophic cost.

Is anti-missile defense is just that good on ships that no amount of simultaneous missiles and decoys can overcome it?

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The chances of a ballistic missile hitting a ship - a small, moving target in the middle of the sea - are negligible. And a 4kg bomblet wouldn't do much damage anyway.

Have you seen the 'no smoking' signs on those vessels?

Sinking a US ship would be a drastic escalation. Iran has done a lot of damage to US assets but inflicted few casualties, demonstrating both capability and restraint. If they destroyed the American boomers' few remaining illusions of supremacy by sinking a ship and potentially killing hundreds of crew, the loss of face would likely instigate a drastic response that could lead to a worst-case scenario. Much better for Iran to keep playing bloody knuckles and force the US and Israel to beg for peace when their missile defenses and appetite for war run dry.

Interesting to see three entirely different responses to my question - but I think I believe this one the most. Not necessarily that they could be successful in attacking (who knows), but that trying would escalate things on the wrong timeline for them. At this point, they actively want to drag this out.

My sense at the moment is they are pursuing a "humiliation" strategy where they will persuade Trump to withdraw by making it too embarrassing to continue. For that, all they have to do is make him look impotent, which they achieve by continuously provoking just enough to force a response (either military, or Trump to issue yet another TACO threat he can't carry through with) but then popping up a few days later with a new attack showing it didn't work.

It's a waste. Iran can't win against the US army. They'll win by being as disruptive as possible, for as long as possible. They'll keep seldomly launching rockets until they get what they want or the global economy collapses. This whole situation perfectly illustrates that wars are won with intelligence, and not by gung ho "warrior ethos" morons like Hegseth.

Are you saying Iran, a country that was just sanctioned to hell for almost half a century, with a defense budget of at most $30B is outsmarting our $2T/year military which we consider to be the greatest in the world? The can't be. That's literally the only thing that makes this nation "great". That would imply that our country is being led by morons

Who says they didn’t? Although not widely reported in mainstream US media, there are lots of claims online that US Navy ships were hit by missiles, including a clip from Trump himself. Why is the Ford and Lincoln so far away?

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