Data Centers Aren’t About Faster Internet But Vast Surveillance State

Robin Westenra
May 06, 2026

Nearly 3,000 new data centers are under construction or planned across the United States, and most Americans have no idea what these things actually are or what they are being built to do.

In this clip, I break down the explosive growth of AI data centers across the country, including the largest one ever proposed: 62 square miles in rural Utah, fast-tracked by the state government with the public completely locked out of the decision. This is not about faster internet. This is about building the physical infrastructure of a surveillance state.

We cover the noise pollution — what it actually sounds like to live half a mile from one of these things at 1 in the morning. The light pollution bathing rural Texas towns in a 24-hour industrial glow. The heat islands raising local temperatures by nearly 4 degrees. The water usage — one Google facility in Ohio alone pulling 387,000 gallons per day, full of forever chemicals when it comes back out. And the electricity bills in states like Georgia, where residents are paying up to $267 more per year just to power these things while the data centers themselves get a discount.

These are not side effects. They are symptoms. The infrastructure for a digital prison is being built all around us, funded by our own tax dollars, poisoning our water, and driving up our cost of living — while the people pushing it tell us they’re worried about the environment.

Watch the full broadcast HERE

From Maria Zeee

REPORT: Governments are now classifying massive AI data centers as “military operations,” quietly stripping communities of any power to stop them.

[…]

Via https://seemorerocks.substack.com/p/the-horrifying-truth-about-data-centers

Saudi Arabia Blocked ‘Project Freedom’ by Denying U.S. Access to Bases

President Donald Trump welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to th

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

John Hayward

Two unnamed U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s “Project Freedom” — the plan for American military forces to safely escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz — was “paused” after less than 48 hours because Saudi Arabia denied the use of its airbases to protect ships from attacks by Iran.

According to NBC’s sources, the Saudi government was “surprised” and “angered” when Trump announced Project Freedom with a Truth Social post on Sunday afternoon.

Trump said he was acting in response to requests from “countries from all over the world” who were “neutral and innocent bystanders” to the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

“For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these countries that we will guide their ships safely out of these restricted waterways, so that they can freel and ably get on with their business,” the president wrote.

Trump dubbed the initiative “Project Freedom” and said it would begin on Monday, only a few hours after he wrote his Truth Social post. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it was ready to support the effort immediately, as part of America’s commitment to freedom of navigation.

“Our support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade,” CENTCOM commander Adm. Bradley Cooper said on Sunday.

CENTCOM’s statement suggested Project Freedom was an extension of an initiative announced by the Department of War the previous week to “enhance coordination and information-sharing among international partners in support of maritime security in the strait.”

“Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope, temporary in duration [and] with one mission: protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Monday, announcing that two ships had already passed through the Strait of Hormuz under the protection of U.S. destroyers.

Hegseth said Iran “cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway.”

“Iran is the clear aggressor, harassing civilian vessels, threatening mariners from every nation indiscriminately, and weaponizing a critical choke point for its own financial benefit,” he said.

On Tuesday, Hegseth praised the success of Project Freedom at a Pentagon press conference, and said “hundreds more ships from nations around the world are lining up to transit.”

“As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait,” he said.

“American destroyers are on station, supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones and surveillance aircraft providing 24/7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels — except Iran’s, of course,” he said.

Later on Tuesday, President Trump suddenly announced a “pause” to Project Freedom, ostensibly at the request of Pakistan, which has been mediating talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Trump said the pause was “mutually agreed” to and justified by “the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran.”

According to NBC’s sources, the real reason for the pause was that Saudi Arabia indignantly informed the U.S. that its Prince Sultan Airbase could not be used to support Project Freedom, and U.S. military aircraft would not be allowed to fly through its airspace to participate in the effort. This would have removed the air support Hegseth described as integral to the operation.

The U.S. officials allegedly said Trump placed a call to Saudi Arabia’s de facto chief executive, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), but it “did not resolve the issue.”

“Other close Gulf allies were also caught off guard; the president spoke with leaders in Qatar after the effort had already begun,” NBC reported.

[…]

Via https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2026/05/07/report-saudi-arabia-blocked-project-freedom-by-denying-u-s-access-to-bases/

Deep State Leaks CIA Iran War Dossier to Washington Post

Leaked CIA memo reveals true extent of Iran's leverage in firefight: report

By Cristina Leila

The Deep State leaked a CIA Iran war dossier to the Washington Post that refutes Trump’s claims that the Iranian Regime’s missiles are mostly decimated.

On Wednesday, President Trump sparred with a reporter in the Oval Office during a meeting with UFC fighters.

The reporter asked Trump about his decision to pause Project Freedom amid a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump told the reporter that the US military has decimated Iran’s missile capabilities and they probably only have about 18 percent left.

“You’re facing an opponent right now in Iran that has refused to submit. You seem optimistic announcing you may be closer to a deal – but what’s different now?” a reporter asked Trump about his latest decision to pause Project Freedom.

“Well, why do you say they refused to submit? You don’t know that! You don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors,” Trump said.

The reporter tried to interject: “They were firing on US troops a few days ago…”

“Yeah, a few days ago is a long time ago. You know, in the world of war, a few days ago, no, they want to make a deal badly. And we’ll see if we get there,” Trump said.

“If we get there, they can’t have nuclear weapons. You know, it’s very simple. But what’s not to submit? So they had a Navy with one hundred and fifty nine ships and now every ship is blown to pieces and lying at the bottom of the water,” Trump added.

“They had an air force, lots of planes, and they don’t have any planes. They don’t have any anti aircraft. They don’t have any radar left,” the president said.

“Their missiles are mostly decimated. They have some. They have probably 18, 19 percent, but not a lot by comparison to what they had,” he said.

“And their leaders are all dead. So I think we won. Now it’s only a question of, look, if we left right now around, it would take them 20 years to rebuild!” Trump said. “We’re in good shape.”

[…]

Via https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/05/deep-state-leaks-cia-iran-war-dossier-wapo/

Weather Manipulation: Destruction of US Bases Restores Normal Climate in Iran

Chemtrails Chapter 8: The Grid and Payload Explained

By François-Xavier ROCHETTE.

Why is it that the end of the Iranian drought coincides with the destruction of the ring of American radar installations in the Arabian Peninsula? Doesn’t this confirm what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had already said long ago about manipulating climate to pursue political interests?

While Iran rains missiles down on its enemies, the rain returns to Iran. Coincidence?

[…]

AN ABNORMAL DROUGHT THAT DRAGGED ON

About fifteen years ago, the then-President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, repeatedly claimed that Western powers (under American influence) were “stealing” rain from Persia and much of the Middle East (including Iraq). Naturally, at that time, almost everyone in the West considered the strongman of Tehran a crackpot, a conspiracy theorist who, moreover, had the misfortune, it was assumed, of being a notorious historical revisionist.

Westerners continue to silence or deny what Mahmoud had calmly stated. In 2018, Iran officially accused the United Arab Emirates and Israel of stealing its rains, when the senior official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, declared: “Israel and another country are working together to prevent Iranian clouds from raining.”

The New York Times reported that the country Jalali did not name was the United Arab Emirates, which has launched a cloud seeding program by injecting chemicals into clouds in an attempt to induce rain in its favor, but also to prevent rainfall in Iran.

Today, however, many Middle Eastern elites are talking about the extreme drought and equally abnormal heat that have plagued the region for ages. We also recall that before the war against Iran, the country had suffered for years from a dramatic water shortage that directly endangered the people, especially the nation’s capital, whose inhabitants (and first and foremost the government) were ready to flee rather than become parched or dry out like old stones.

THE RETURN OF THE RAIN 

And then, suddenly, a miracle amidst the misfortunes! In Iran, the clouds finally wept, abundantly and regularly, and temperatures returned to normal (dropping by an average of five degrees Celsius). A few days after the first Iranian strikes against American bases located in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, the regional climate changed completely.

Initially stunned, the population could observe over the following weeks the gradual filling of natural and reservoir lakes, the return of life to rivers, streams, and springs, the greening and re-greening of meadows, and the return of flora and fauna familiar from the past. In five or six weeks, enormous water reservoirs were filled, and large hydroelectric facilities had to release water to prevent overflows.

The authorities finally called on all Iranian farmers to sow as much wheat as possible and to plant without worry, since water would certainly not be lacking during the summer season. The return of a “normal” spring was not an accident, and this understanding is now shared by everyone in Tehran, Baghdad, and Afghanistan.

According to Iranian officials, including ambassadors (stationed in the greater region), this new rain that has nourished the land is not providential but the result of Iran’s bombings of the gigantic American radars which were simultaneously being used as HAARP systems, tools quite capable of locally modifying the climate.

The Iranian embassy in Kabul posted this unambiguous tweet:

“Iran, after destroying a secret cloud seeding and climate manipulation center in the United Arab Emirates, saw everything change overnight. Once this secret center was destroyed, the region’s weather map completely reversed, and now it rains every week in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, with temperatures dropping by 5 degrees. I don’t know if what they’re saying is true, but there’s a change that everyone is noticing, and temperatures in Iraq haven’t been like this for decades.”

Before the war, and Tehran’s audacious response, two major American activities were likely to alter the climate of the Middle East, not inadvertently but intentionally.

CHEMTRAILS AND WAVES

Until the outbreak of the conflict, military aircraft of the United States and their allies released daily, or several times a week (there are many testimonies on this point), trails which are aptly called chemtrails which covered the sky in a few hours with a milky coating generating a scientifically proven greenhouse effect.

Those with a bit of curiosity observe this same phenomenon in Europe and recall that the contrails left behind by all the planes in the last century lasted no more than a few dozen seconds. Never before had these contrails remained in our atmosphere for more than a minute; never had the sky turned whitish after a flurry of flights. Never.

This has been the case regularly since the 2000s, particularly since the deadly heatwave of 2003. Summers have been hotter, all seasons have suddenly been hotter, sometimes extraordinarily dry, to the point of a telluric change in some regions which has caused the fracturing of tens of thousands of houses built on clay soil.

Most of the hundreds of thousands of daily flights around the world do not produce chemtrails. Just a few hundred aircraft (not commercial airliners, of course) are enough to locally alter the climate, here or there, and cause temperatures to skyrocket. Keen observers will have noticed that these trails crisscross the sky in very calm weather, when their sponsors are certain they won’t be too widely dispersed and therefore ineffective.

As unpleasant as they may be, heat waves, droughts, and mild winters are messages meant for the brainwashed Westerners. They must admit that everything is out of whack because of their own activities, that the Earth is dying because of the carbon dioxide they emit with their diesel cars, their gas boilers, their incessant flatulence, and their horrendous meat-based diet.

The message is crystal clear: you small-time European consumers, you see the damage you’re causing, you careless fools! There are no seasons anymore, you bunch of idiots! The carp have no oxygen in the ponds, the trout have no current in the rivers, the grass is yellow in June, Grandma is suffocating in July, we’re dying of heat in Nantes, everything’s gone to hell. Scrap your gas-powered car, scrap your gas appliances, buy an electric car or a heat pump as soon as you can, install solar panels, demand the energy transition for everyone!

THE IRANIAN TARGET

In the Middle East, there was no message. No one was urging its inhabitants to abandon oil and internal combustion engines. Iran and its surrounding regions were simply a target. A target to be weakened, starved, and destabilized. So that only discontent could flourish, so that hatred against the regime could explode. In addition to the countless economic sanctions imposed upon it, Iran had thus been the target of climate attacks for many years.

For decades, military scientists have known how to dry out and heat entire regions by dusting their airspace with tiny metallic particles (aluminum and others) and water vapor. These particles are agitated by radar waves (which travel at the speed of light) and thus heat up. This temperature increase at the core of the clouds prevents the suspended water from freezing, thus preventing precipitation.

By preventing the movement of crop-dusting aircraft and by neutralizing giant radars (by destroying them), Iran has freed itself (momentarily?) from this “climate” trap.


BETWEEN CONSPIRACY AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES, A TRAP AGAINST IRAN

Tehran, long convinced of the existence of this plot orchestrated by the American-Zionist axis, could not, however, intervene sooner. It would have had to attack both the Americans and the United Arab Emirates first. And no one, apart from the Iranian elite and those in the know, would have believed the motive for its attack: a return to normalcy.

In its self-defense, the Persian regime was able to destroy the massive radar systems in a seemingly, ostensibly, rational move. It was the radars themselves that were eliminated, not radars also used as instruments projecting microwaves to deplete Iran’s resources. The damning accusation of conspiracy could not be leveled against it.

By holding out for so long, by resisting for so long the sanctions and social unrest orchestrated by the enemy, by enduring for so long this extraordinary drought, Iran has won the battle against “conspiracy theories” by avoiding appearing as one of its most obsessive proponents.

We know that Iran quite legitimately believed in this conspiracy, but a war waged to officially combat it would not have been accepted by everyone in a world saturated in the media (even outside the West) and the demonization of “conspiracy theories.” Climate warfare could have brought Iran to its knees, but it was its enemy, who needed this war (which it tried by all means to provoke), who struck first. This is Iran’s greatest success to date.

[…]

Via https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2026/05/07/iran-end-of-the-drought-the-destruction-of-us-radar-installations-in-the-middle-east/

Hantavirus is a fake, don’t fall for it

May 08, 2026

The government’s ability to declare pandemics based on nothing enables imprisonment without due process and must be nullified.

I am enjoying the sight of a robust and funny! public response to the feeble attempts of the pandemic cabal to ignite another round of fear and bullshit with the current “hantavirus” psyop. This article is a republish of important information discussing unconstitutional law that allows CDC to capture and imprison you (and kill you) without any due process or accountability on pretenses of “quarantine”. I published these materials originally in 2024. Please re-acquaint yourself, especially if you are planning to travel this summer.

There is no “hantavirus”. The illness exists, it is a poisoning with rat feces, usually in extremely blighted living conditions, with extremely poor hygiene, dirt floors and massive rat infestation. So, it is impossible on the modern small cruise ship.

Briefly, a digest of the current psyop headlines:

  • Jaimie Andrews cultured “hantavirus” from sterile samples infected with nothing, demonstrating whatever CDC claims is, of course, baloney:

    The passenger on the ship died of natural causes. In this video the captain not concerned, nothing was going on on that ship:

[…]

The sole crisis actor who was making videos is a crisis actor. Thank you, Harry Fisher:

[…]
  • Bob Malone is having an orgasm over the possibilities of the next pandemic, because his company Inovio is a maker of the DNA electroporation device used for the DNA (plasmids!!) hantavirus vaccines made by the US military:
  • Jay Battacharya is predictably lying and spreading fake news to create panic, especially amongst liberal boomers. Next he will tell us about “targeted protection for the elderly”:
  • Finally, who could have predicted this!! For a disease with annual mortality of 6, including Gene Hackman’s wife, there are now 13 vaccines and other bullshit poison products in development. Thanks Nicolas Hulscher:
[…]

Republishing from 2024:

I previously wrote about the “quarantine” of the Grand Princess and Diamond Princess passengers in March 2020. The quarantine orders were FOIAed on my suggestion by Children’s Health Defense fellow Risa Evans. We received the 2nd tranche of the documents which contain the original medical opinion upon which people were put in quarantine at several Air Force bases, i.e. a military prison. Of course, the passengers were not told they are being imprisoned, they were lied to by the HHS/CDC representatives who scared them into compliance by the “you are asymptomatically ill/have been exposed to a deadly novel virus” story.

The full document of this FOIA production is available for paid subscribers (scroll to the end of this article, past the artwork).

The second production from HHS contained the documents I was originally looking for: the medical sign-off on the quarantine orders issued in March 2020.  Please read and forward to your friends and family, so that when the “health” authorities try to pull this weaponized-science-vaporware on you, you can be prepared.

Let’s look at some key dates first.

Recall that on March 5, 2020, the Pentagon conducted the first Operation Warp Speed press conference, where several fake pandemic warriors from Ft. Detrick (USAMRDC) announced a few curious things.

Note that Fort Detrick was the center of the U.S. biological weapons program from 1943 to 1969. Since the renaming of the biological weapons program into “infectious disease research”, it has hosted most elements of the United States biological defense program. Meaning, the biological weapons programs continued at Ft. Detrick and in many academic and private labs around the U.S. and world-wide, but now at much greater scale, scope and funding. Despite all this investment, they still can’t make viruses that spread by themselves, so they need to fake pandemics by declaring them, producing fraudulent computer models, murdering some people, etc. Critically, they need to claim they have a PCR “sample” of a totally scary pandemic potential “novel virus”.

During the presser on March 5, 2020, Col Wendy Sammonds-Jackson announced that “we (the DOD/USAMRDC) have received the pathogen (SARS-Cov2) and we are growing it”:

She’s got THE SAMPLE! Yippee! We are off to the races. The DOD team stated that the alleged sample of the pathogen came from to 1 (one!) US patient from Washington state. Even if that really happened, a sample of one is absolutely meaningless for anything – diagnostic, treatment or vaccine development. I believe that 1 “sample” was only necessary to check the exemption box that allows to classify the activities that followed as “defense, infectious disease research”, rather than making of the internationally prohibited bioweapons. The production of these prohibited substances was necessary for seeding the subsequent “pandemic” and the deadly OWS EUA Countermeasures theatrics that it enabled. Prior to March 5, 2020, there had been no “covid” disease in the US. CDC claims there were about 200 “cases” by that time, although nobody except CDC could have tested or verified anything. Immediately after Col Wendy started making stocks of it (whatever “it” was) at Ft. Detrick, the “pandemic” materialized in the US:

[…]

Three days after the DOD/USAMRDC announcing that they began growing the stock of “covid virus”, the CDC captured 3000+ people from two cruise ships, Diamond Princess (arriving internationally) and Grand Princess (domestic travel, the ship never left CA). The detainees were lied to, sold a sci-fi script about asymptomatic deadly disease, for good measure, threatened with prosecution, and placed into a military prison (quarantine camps) at several US Air Force bases around the country with no means to appeal other than to the same people who imprisoned them, the CDC.

[…]

Incidentally, fake pandemics are still the tools of the central bankers. Listen to the clip of Catherine Austin Fitts here. Transcript and clip by Sense Receptor News:

“Bird flu has nothing to do with health. It’s a tool of the central bankers…when you’re printing monetary inflation you need a way to create deflation on demand.” Investment banker, former HUD official, and founder of the Solari Report) Catherine Austin Fitts describes

At the time of the Grand Princess quarantine orders, in March 2020, the CDC (that had merged with the DOD via “the whole of government approach”) were the sole possessor of the “test” to determine if someone has “SARS-cov-2”. Therefore they had the magic wand to wave around the quarantine ships, and, eenie-meenie-mo, into the military prison you go!

[…]

But of course! “Fever and signs of respiratory illness” is all that was needed, and the rest could be just asserted.

[…]

View the full FOIA document here.

Via https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/hantavirus-is-a-fake-dont-fall-for

Enemy strikes Iran’s vital Qeshm Island pier; explosions heard in Bandar Abbas

An explosion has been reported at the Bahman Pier in the Qeshm island of Iran during an exchange of fire between Iranian armed forces and enemy troops.

Press TV

The Bahman Pier in the Qeshm island of Iran came under attack late on Thursday night during a fierce exchange of fire between Iranian armed forces and enemy units operating near the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported.

According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, portions of the commercial area at the vital Bahman pier on Qeshm Island were struck and partially damaged amid the confrontation.

The incident occurred as Iranian soldiers responded decisively to hostile actions in the strategic waterway, forcing the aggressors to retreat after sustaining losses.

Several explosion sounds were also heard near the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas.

Fars News Agency said residents in Bandar Abbas heard multiple sounds resembling explosions from areas near the city.

Fox News reported that the US military carried out attacks on the ports of Qeshm and Bandar Abbas, but stressed that these attacks do not mean the start of war.

The attack on the Bahman Qeshm pier — a key commercial and passenger facility that has already been targeted multiple times during the ongoing war — has sparked widespread reactions across regional media.

While the Israeli regime’s i24NEWS network rushed to quote an Israeli source claiming “Israel has no connection whatsoever to tonight’s events in Iran,” other reports, including from sources within the regime itself, have pointed directly to UAE fighter jets carrying out the bombing.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency highlighted clear indications of hostile involvement by the UAE, describing the UAE government as acting as a mere proxy and tool in the hands of the Zionist regime.

“Signs of a treacherous Emirati action against the Bahman Qeshm pier have been observed,” Tasnim reported, adding that if confirmed, “the UAE will pay a heavy price for its hostile move.”

Iranian officials have long warned that certain Persian Gulf Arab states, fooled by the Zionist entity’s false promises and US backing, are being dragged into reckless adventures that threaten the security and stability of the entire region.

Iran, however, remains fully prepared to defend its territorial integrity and the sovereignty of its waters in the Persian Gulf.

Fars News Agency noted that a detailed investigation into the precise dimensions of the incident and verification of all circulating claims is still underway.

No casualties have been reported from the strike on the civilian-oriented commercial pier, underscoring the precision of Iranian defensive measures even under direct provocation.

[…]

Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/05/07/768233/Enemy-strikes-Iran%E2%80%99s-vital-Qeshm-Island-pier–Israel-issues-hasty-denial

US destroyers flee Strait of Hormuz after massive Iranian missile and drone barrage

IRGC Navy inflicted significant damage on US naval assets in a large-scale combined operation in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after an unprovoked attack on an Iranian tanker. (File)

Press TV

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy says its forces inflicted significant damage on US naval assets in a large-scale combined operation on Thursday evening, forcing three American destroyers to flee the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement, the commander of the IRGC Navy noted that the operation was launched in response to two provocative actions by the US military.

The first was a violation of the ceasefire involving an attack on an Iranian oil tanker near the port of Jask, which was followed by the approach of US Navy destroyers toward the strategic Strait of Hormuz despite clear warnings against it.

According to the commander, Iranian forces responded to the US military adventurism with “highly extensive and precise combined operation.”

The retaliatory operation involved a variety of advanced weaponry, including anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and destructive drones.

He added that the weapons were equipped with high-explosive warheads and were fired directly at the enemy destroyers.

The commander stated that intelligence monitoring conducted by Iranian forces has since confirmed “significant damage” to the American military assets as a result of the strike.

Facing the devastating and precise Iranian firepower, the IRGC Navy commander said, three aggressor enemy vessels “fled the Strait of Hormuz area immediately.”

In a separate statement, a spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Thursday that Iranian forces gave an immediate response to a series of US military aggressions in the strategic waters of the Strait of Hormuz.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari noted that the “aggressive, terrorist, and outlaw” US military, in violation of a ceasefire, targeted an Iranian oil tanker.

[…]

Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/05/07/768236/us-destroyers-flee-strait-hormuz-massive-iranian-missile-drone-barrage-irgc-navy

Iranian forces strike US vessels in swift retaliation for tanker attack

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

Press TV

A spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Thursday that Iranian forces gave an immediate and decisive response to a series of US military aggressions in the strategic waters of the Strait of Hormuz and along the country’s southern coastline.

In a statement, Ebrahim Zolfaghari noted that the “aggressive, terrorist, and outlaw” US military, in violation of a ceasefire, targeted an Iranian oil tanker.

The vessel was transiting from Iran’s coastal waters in the Jask region, heading towards the Strait of Hormuz.

In a separate but simultaneous incident, another Iranian ship came under attack while entering the Strait of Hormuz, directly opposite the UAE’s Fujairah port.

Concurrent with these fresh acts of aggression, the spokesperson said that US forces, operating in coordination with certain countries in the region, launched airstrikes against civilian areas in the coastal provinces.

These aerial attacks reportedly targeted locations along the coasts of Bandar Khamir, Sirik, and Qeshm Island.

According to the statement, Iran’s response was immediate and decisive.

The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran launched a swift counterattack, engaging US military vessels east of the Strait of Hormuz and south of the port of Bandar Chabahar.

The Iranian operation inflicted “significant damage” on the American warships, he said.

The spokesperson warned that the “criminal and aggressive” US and its allies must recognize that the Islamic Republic of Iran will, as it has in the past, deliver a crushing response to any act of aggression or violation “powerfully and without the slightest hesitation.”

Earlier, media reports said Iranian naval and missile forces had delivered a swift and precise response to yet another act of US aggression in the Strait of Hormuz, forcing American vessels to flee after sustaining damage.

A senior Iranian military official confirmed to IRIB on Thursday night that, following the unprovoked attack by US military aircraft on an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, attacking enemy units in the Strait of Hormuz came under intense Iranian missile fire.

The aggressor forces suffered direct hits and were compelled to retreat in disarray.

It comes a day after US President Donald Trump suspended the so-called ‘Project Freedom’ after just 48 hours, which was aimed at forcing open the Strait of Hormuz.

It marked another humiliating retreat from the American side in the past few months.

[…]

How Iran has damaged the US military footprint in the Middle East

How Iran has damaged the US military footprint in the Middle East (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

RT

American military targets in seven countries have come under Iranian fire, and the Pentagon is doing its best to hide the destruction

Evidence of the damage inflicted to US military facilities in the Gulf during the war with Iran continues to emerge. While the latest media figures say that at least 16 American bases in the region were struck, the Pentagon is apparently doing its best to conceal the destruction.

Within hours of the US launching ‘Operation Epic Fury’ on February 28, Iran unleashed retaliatory strikes against American military bases across the Middle East, with some facilities being targeted multiple times.

Behind a veil of censorship, it’s increasingly clear that the damage may be far more severe than the Pentagon has admitted.

US leadership downplaying scope of destruction

In a report to a congressional committee on April 29, senior Pentagon official Jules Hurst estimated that the war had cost Washington around $25 billion, most of this allegedly in expended munitions. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth later refused to say whether the figure included repair costs to US bases.

Lawmakers have already blasted the estimate, calling it unrealistic in light of earlier Pentagon reports, which said the war had cost around $11 billion in just the first six days.

However, the true price tag of the conflict is reportedly far higher. Factoring in the expense of repairing damaged US military facilities, the figure could be closer to $40-50 billion, CNN has reported, citing anonymous sources. Some bases, such as the home of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, were left “virtually unusable” after suffering “rapid, targeted strikes using advanced technology,” a source told the network.

Determining which installations were hit – and assessing the damage – is possible through a combination of news reports, satellite imagery, and social media footage. However, Gulf states have threatened anyone sharing footage of damage with lengthy jail terms, and the US has pressed American commercial satellite operators to withhold footage from the public.

Washington delays release of satellite images

In early April, California-based Planet Labs, which provides access to satellite imagery to government and business, announced that it would indefinitely halt the release of new footage from the region to preclude its use by “adversarial actors.”

On April 5, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration had asked the company, along with several others working in the sector, to “voluntarily withhold images of designated areas of interest due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.” Some of Planet Labs’ images shared online in the opening days of the conflict exposed damage to US military sites.

Which US bases have been hit?

Nevertheless, Iran has continued to release its own satellite footage, as have some Chinese satellite operators. According to this footage – and to video shared on social media – the following bases have been hit by Iranian fire.

  • Naval Support Activity, Bahrain (headquarters of US Fifth Fleet)
  • Manama, Bahrain (multiple hotels housing US troops in the city)
  • Erbil International Airport, Iraq (US base adjoining airport)
  • Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan
  • Ali Al-Salem Air Base, Kuwait
  • Camp Buehring, Kuwait
  • Camp Arifjan, Kuwait
  • Mohammed Al-Ahmad Kuwait Naval Base, Kuwait
  • Al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar
  • Al-Dhafra Air Base, UAE
  • Jebel Ali Port, UAE
  • Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia

CNN’s list is more extensive, and includes two additional bases in Kuwait and two in Bahrain. CNN also includes RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a British air base frequently used by the US military.

How many bases does the US have in the Middle East?

RT

The US operates a network of 19 permanent and temporary military bases throughout the Middle East, with the largest – Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar – hosting 10,000 troops and serving as the forward headquarters for US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The eight permanent US installations are located in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and as of mid-2025, there are between 40,000 and 50,000 American troops stationed in the region at any one time.

These bases surround Iran from the west and south, and are currently bolstered by the presence of the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George HW Bush in the Persian Gulf. The two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have a combined staff of more than 10,000, and carry more than 130 fighter jets.

All of the US bases in the region have been described as “legitimate targets” by the Iranian military.

What’s on Iran’s target list?

The strikes on American air bases serve the immediate goals of reducing US ability to conduct air sorties over Iran, and forcing it to move air assets further away, from where they must rely on aerial refuelling to continue their attacks. Data from FlightRadar24 showed a mass exodus of KC-135 Stratotankers from Prince Sultan Air Base on March 9, after a combined drone and missile attack the night before. A rudimentary calculation by analyst Anusar Farooqui suggests that the US ability to fly missions over Iran has been degraded by 35-50%.

Iran’s campaign has focused heavily on blinding the US military and crippling its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) network. An Iranian ‘Shahed’ drone slammed into an AN/TPS-59 radar dome at Naval Support Activity in Bahrain on the first day of the conflict, obliterating the $300 million system. Installed in 2007, the radar was described by Lockheed Martin at the time as “the only 360-degree coverage mobile radar in the world certified to detect tactical ballistic missiles.”

Radar domes were also destroyed at Camp Arifjan and Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and at Al-Dhafra in the UAE, according to satellite images and video footage. At Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a $1 billion AN/FPS-132 early warning radar installation, one of only six worldwide, was hit by an Iranian ballistic missile on February 28, according to Qatar’s Defense Ministry.

By destroying the radar equipment, Iran has hampered the US and Israel’s ability to track incoming ballistic missiles. The consequences can be seen in Israel, where by March 6, Iranian missiles were hitting Tel Aviv less than three minutes after sirens sounded, instead of the usual eight minutes.

In at least four locations – Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and two Emirati-run bases in the UAE – Iran has hit AN/TPY-2 radar systems linked to US-made THAAD batteries. Satellite images show that in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, these $500 million systems were completely destroyed.

A March 27 Iranian missile and drone strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia wounded 12 US troops, two of them seriously, according to a US official cited by Reuters. The attack also damaged several US aircraft, according to American officials, with separate reports indicating that refueling planes were among those hit.

US and Arab officials cited by the Wall Street Journal said the same strike also hit a Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, a critical surveillance platform. The IRGC said the aircraft was “100% destroyed” in the strike, while open-source flight tracking data indicated that several such planes had been stationed at the base in recent weeks. The E-3, a key command-and-control platform, costs around $270 million to produce. US Central Command refused to confirm the claim, but satellite footage later proved that the IRGC was telling the truth.

According to a May 6 report by the Washington Post, Iranian missiles and drones struck a total of 228 structures or pieces of equipment across all the bases targeted, including “hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment.” More than half of this damage took place at just four bases, the Post reported: Naval Support Activity, Bahrain, and Ali al-Salem Air Base, Camp Arifjan, and Camp Buehring in Kuwait.

How many US troops have been killed?

Some 13 US troops have been confirmed killed since hostilities began. Six died in an Iranian attack on Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, when a missile hit what US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth described as a “tactical operation center that was fortified.” One soldier was killed in a missile attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, while another six died when their refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq. More than 400 US troops have been wounded.

Tehran claims that the true US death toll is significantly higher. In an interview on March 7, Iranian Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani accused US President Donald Trump of “lying” about the casualty count, predicting that the US would “probably later increase the number of deaths gradually under the pretext of accidents or something of the sort.”

How has Washington’s inability to protect Gulf allies affected their relationship?

On top of the strikes Iran carried out on US military facilities, Tehran has successfully struck oil and gas infrastructure in multiple Gulf states, as well as buildings it claimed were housing American soldiers.

This retaliatory campaign has shattered the illusion that a US base on a nation’s territory would provide it a protective umbrella, with Gulf nations reportedly beginning to hedge their bets and looking elsewhere for potential allies.

“The alliance with the US cannot be exclusive and it is not… impregnable,” CNN cited a Saudi source as saying.

Gulf nations are also suffering with their main export – fossil fuels – being locked into the Strait of Hormuz by Iran’s blockade and the US blockade of Iranian ports. The UAE has reportedly warned the US Treasury that it could be forced to trade oil in Chinese yuan to compensate.

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Via https://www.rt.com/news/633541-iran-attacks-us-bases/

How Iran’s tiny speedboats turned Strait of Hormuz into US Navy no-go zone

By Yousef Ramazani

Amid the fragile ceasefire, Iran’s famed “mosquito fleet” – a swarm of small, fast attack boats – continues to lurk in sea caves along the Persian Gulf, ready to surge and disrupt any attempt to breach the Islamic Republic’s maritime control mechanism in the Strait of Hormuz.

Since the US-Israeli aggression was halted on April 8, 2026, Iran has maintained its steadfast posture in the Persian Gulf. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy’s speed boats remain the most disruptive asymmetric naval force in the world.

The 40-day war of aggression launched by the United States and the Zionist regime failed to break the resolve of a nation that has spent decades perfecting the art of naval warfare in confined waters. While American officials made grandiose claims about destroying Iranian naval power, the reality on the water tells a different story.

Iran’s speedboats – hidden in sea caves along the coast and on islands – remain fully operational, radar-evading, and capable of launching devastating missile swarms against any aggressor, including the US military.

From the legendary Ashura-class boats of the Sacred Defense era to the newly unveiled Heydar-110, which shattered world speed records at 110 knots, the IRGC Navy has transformed the narrow Strait of Hormuz – through which approximately 20 percent of global oil once flowed – into a graveyard for the illusions of American naval supremacy.

Strategic logic of speed: From Tanker War to present day

The foundation of Iran’s speedboat doctrine was laid during the most painful period of the Sacred Defense in the 1980s, when the Iraqi Baathist regime, backed by the United States and other arrogant powers, launched the Tanker War in the mid-1980s.

The objective of that aggression was to cripple the Islamic Republic’s economy by destroying commercial vessels carrying goods to and from Iran.

In the first year of the war, for every six attacks on Iranian vessels, only one was answered. But in 1987, with the increased deployment of fast vessels, Iran created a balance of power, responding to every aggression.

By 1988, the equation had shifted entirely in Iran’s favor, with every enemy attack met by a decisive Iranian counterattack.

That historic experience taught Iranian commanders a timeless lesson: fast vessels are not only agile and lethal but also cost-effective compared to gigantic, slow-moving warships.

Thus, the IRGC Navy’s strategy was permanently adjusted around high-speed boats, a decision that has proven prophetic during the recent 40 days of US-Israeli war on aggression that began on February 28, 2026.

The ceasefire declared on April 8, 2026, has not diminished the threat; rather, it has underscored just how effectively Iran’s asymmetric fleet can choke the world’s most strategic waterway without ever needing to permanently close it.

Heydar-110: The world’s fastest combat vessel

On February 27, 2025 – exactly one year before the latest US-Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran – the IRGC Navy unveiled a true game-changer in Bandar Abbas: the Heydar-110 missile-launching vessel.

With a top speed of 110 knots (203 kilometers per hour), this carbon-fiber catamaran is officially the fastest operational military combat boat on the planet.

For comparison, the newest generation of US military fast boats can barely reach 85 kilometers per hour, while most speedboats worldwide operate between 60 and 120 kilometers per hour.

The Heydar-110 measures approximately 14 meters in length and 4.3 meters in width. Its lightweight carbon-fiber twin-hull design provides exceptional stability, even in harsh sea conditions.

Despite its compact size, it carries two anti-ship cruise missiles – likely from the Nasir or Nasr series, with an estimated range of 50 kilometers – along with a heavy machine gun mount for close engagements.

Its operational range extends to 350 nautical miles (roughly 650 kilometers), allowing it to strike far beyond Iran’s immediate coastline.

The vessel is built with stealth in mind, featuring a low radar cross-section that makes it difficult for enemy surveillance systems to detect until it is already within striking distance.

During the recent aggression, American naval forces found themselves unable to effectively counter these vessels, which emerged from hidden sea caves, launched their missiles, and vanished back into the labyrinthine coastline before US helicopters could respond.

Red wasps: Iran’s diverse fleet of high-speed attack boats

The Heydar-110 is far from Iran’s only speedboat asset. The IRGC Navy operates a diverse arsenal of fast vessels, each designed for specific tactical roles. Together, they have earned the nickname “red wasps” for their small size, blinding speed, and deadly sting.

The Ashura class, which served valiantly during the Sacred Defense, remains in service and can reach 90 knots while carrying either a 12.7-millimeter machine gun or a 107-millimeter 12-barrel rocket launcher.

The Seraj class, inspired by racing boat designs, achieves speeds of up to 65 knots and is equipped with lightweight rocket launchers and advanced electronic navigation systems.

The Tareq class, unveiled in large numbers in March 2023, exceeds 90 knots and is optimized for assault missions, rushing enemy positions from hidden launch points within minutes.

For heavier strike capabilities, Iran operates the Tondar class – a larger missile boat based on Chinese Houdong-class designs but substantially upgraded by Iranian engineers.

Armed with C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of 120 kilometers, the Tondar allows the fleet to target aggressor warships from beyond the visual horizon.

Perhaps most significantly, the IRGC has pioneered the use of unmanned surface vessels, with the Ya Mahdi high-speed drone boat leading the way.

This composite-hull vessel – less than 12 meters long and only 1.5 meters high – carries three rocket launchers and can be transformed into a mobile bomb, guided remotely from shore or from other vessels without endangering Iranian personnel.

Military analysts have described these unmanned boats as a “weapon of mass disruption” rather than mass destruction, capable of saturating American air defenses through sheer volume.

Iranian tactics that exposed US naval vulnerability

During the 40 days of US-Israeli aggression that began on February 28, 2026, the IRGC Navy demonstrated the full maturity of its asymmetric doctrine.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, made boastful claims about having “completely obliterated” the majority of the Iranian navy, even asserting that submarines had been sunk and warships destroyed, with the rest soon to be floating at the bottom of the sea.

Iranian media rejected these claims entirely, and the facts on the water proved the American rhetoric hollow.

The mosquito fleet continued to operate from cavernous bunkers hidden beneath mountains and from secret bases on Faror Island, emerging to disrupt US naval formations at will.

Analysts estimate that the IRGC could possess anywhere from hundreds to thousands of small attack boats, a number so large that even the most intense American airstrikes could not eliminate them all.

These speedboats were used to swarm and open fire on vessels attempting to breach Iran’s blockade of the strait, launching from multiple directions simultaneously to overwhelm American surveillance and defensive systems.

Although the United States responded with Seahawk helicopter attacks that reportedly destroyed some Iranian boats, the IRGC’s decentralized command structure and rapid production capabilities ensured that losses were immediately replaced.

[…]

Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/05/06/768143/explainer-how-iran-tiny-speedboats-turned-strait-hormuz-us-navy-no-go-zone-us-navy