The Middle East is once again on the edge of major escalation as reports emerge that a new U.S. military target list has allegedly been delivered amid rising tensions with Iran. With carrier strike groups deployed, fast attack fleets under surveillance, and growing pressure around the Strait of Hormuz, military analysts are now questioning whether another large-scale operation could be imminent.
In this video, we break down:
The latest U.S.–Iran developments
IRGC fast attack boat swarm tactics
Why the Strait of Hormuz matters globally
F-35 stealth fighter operations
A-10 Warthog strike capabilities
U.S. Navy carrier deployments
Drone swarm warfare threats
Possible military scenarios if diplomacy collapses
Pentagon UFO file discussion and strategic implications
This analysis explores the geopolitical, military, and strategic dimensions behind the current tensions while examining how modern warfare technologies could shape the next phase of conflict in the Middle East.
If you enjoy military analysis, geopolitical breakdowns, defense technology, and global conflict updates, make sure to follow for more high-intensity coverage.
#Hashtags
#Iran #USA #MiddleEast #Military #USMilitary #IranNews #BreakingNews #F35 #A10Warthog #StraitOfHormuz #IRGC #WorldNews #Geopolitics #MilitaryAnalysis #NavalWarfare
In this video, we break down:
The latest U.S.–Iran developments
IRGC fast attack boat swarm tactics
Why the Strait of Hormuz matters globally
F-35 stealth fighter operations
A-10 Warthog strike capabilities
U.S. Navy carrier deployments
Drone swarm warfare threats
Possible military scenarios if diplomacy collapses
Pentagon UFO file discussion and strategic implications
This analysis explores the geopolitical, military, and strategic dimensions behind the current tensions while examining how modern warfare technologies could shape the next phase of conflict in the Middle East.
If you enjoy military analysis, geopolitical breakdowns, defense technology, and global conflict updates, make sure to follow for more high-intensity coverage.
#Hashtags
#Iran #USA #MiddleEast #Military #USMilitary #IranNews #BreakingNews #F35 #A10Warthog #StraitOfHormuz #IRGC #WorldNews #Geopolitics #MilitaryAnalysis #NavalWarfare
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NewsTranscript
00:00It's May 23rd, 2026. Happy Memorial Day weekend. And what you need to know right now is the
00:05President of the United States just skipped his own son's wedding to stay in Washington,
00:09potentially staying in the Situation Room. Not because of a scheduling conflict,
00:13not because of some sort of issue domestically. It looks like right now circumstances pertaining
00:18to government is what the official nomenclature is as to why the Trump administration is staying
00:22put. But at the same time, CBS News confirmed that defense and intelligence officials across
00:27Washington have canceled their Memorial Day plans, updating overseas recall rosters and standing
00:32by for orders. It looks like the pressure is fully being placed on Iran, even though we know it's
00:37gone back and forth a time or two, we'll just say a time or two. But at the end of
00:41the day,
00:42we know this has gone into negotiations, threats of more conflict, back to negotiations, and basically
00:47Iran tapping along the world with the U.S. trying to give them some off-ramp, just some ability to
00:52take an off-ramp and avoid further strikes. But then Axios is also reporting that the administration
00:56has a final offer that they've delivered to Thrawn via Pakistan, and basically seriously considering
01:02what happens if Tran says no. And if they say no in the next few hours here, obviously there's going
01:07to be some rumbling happening in the Middle East. Again, this isn't just background noise. This is the
01:12exact operational pattern that we saw about 72 hours before Operation Epic Fury launched on February 28th.
01:19The cadence is relatively the same. And Iran has been told in not so uncertain terms that if they don't
01:24come to a deal that things are going to start lighting up again. And we know they were offered
01:29free nuclear energy for civilian purposes for life. That was a part of the original deal that was
01:33offered to them. Yet these mullets are still like, no, we want our fiefdom and we want to set up
01:38a toll
01:38across the street of Hormuz and collect a bounty like a good mafia boss. And the U.S. is like,
01:44can you just be like sort of a normal country? We're not even asking for a lot here. We're not
01:49even
01:49setting the bar very high. Can you just be like sort of normal and not that weirdo hanging out in
01:54the
01:54corner of the party, just breathing heavily and looking at all the guests in a weird way?
01:58But really, the U.S. is like, hey, let's give you an off ramp. Let's give you the ability to
02:02save face
02:03and walk away with your head held relatively high, thinking that you achieved something. And that is
02:08a principle from the art of war that we see the current administration continuously go back and forth
02:12on. And I know a lot of you are frustrated by that, thinking that we should finish the job.
02:16But it looks like at this point, there's no other option on the table. If Iran fully says no to
02:21this
02:22final agreement that the U.S. has just passed to them. But today, we're going to break down what's
02:27potentially on that targeting list, specifically the IRGC's fast attack fleet, their massive fleet,
02:32and what they would be doing, teaming that up with drone swarms, teaming that up with ballistic missiles.
02:37And why that's a real problem, because Iran has that proxy warfare capability with what's said to be
02:42500 to 1,000 fast attack boats still left. So why were these not taken out during some of the
02:48initial
02:48strikes? Well, that's a great question. It's a complicated targeting package. But at the end of
02:53the day, I think these do need to be taken out. And if they can be taken out prior to
02:57even leaving
02:57the port, then that's an even better situation. But we're going to walk through the F-35 as one of
03:03the main weapon systems that would be taking these down. But it's not alone. Along with that will be
03:08the F-15E and the A-10 W-T TOG. That is a Warthog bullet right there. And if it
03:13makes you feel a
03:14little insecure, don't worry. I feel the same way. Every day I walk into my studio, I'm like,
03:19hi, 30 million around. How are you doing today? Get a little tingle in places I never knew I could.
03:24But we're also going to talk about a special platform that is in the pipeline right now to
03:29enter service here any month. It's said to enter in 2027, but who knows? It could be sooner. I'll give
03:35you a
03:35little hint. This is basically a crop duster that's fortified to be bulletproof and also has rocket
03:41pods. No big deal. And then we're going to get to the roundup section. In the roundup section,
03:47we're going to cover the Pentagon's second UFO file dump. We'll look at some of that footage and
03:52I'll talk to you about what I'm seeing there, especially the shoo-down of the balloon over the
03:55Great Lakes. That will be a very interesting one as well. Also, just casually, the USS Nimitz just parked
04:01in the Caribbean. And now Raul Castro has freshly been indicted for murder. So, hmm. Are the war
04:07drums beating towards Cuba as well? Or is the Nimitz just out on a little tour? Are they just out
04:12on a
04:12little cruise getting some sunshine? So basically, at this point, Iran built their naval doctrine
04:17around 500 speedboats. The 810 and the Apache are just calling that a targeting backlog. But now,
04:23let's get the operational picture and let's talk about what's happening right now and why things look
04:27like they're getting closer than ever to the strikes resuming again. Even though, don't worry, I
04:32understand we've been in this position before. However, with plans being cancelled across Memorial
04:36Day weekend, it definitely seems like something huge could go down here at any moment. So, as of this
04:41morning, there's been no acceptable response back from Iran. Just rhetoric. Just massive amounts of
04:46rhetoric. And on the diplomatic track, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with NATO foreign ministers in
04:52Heinsberg, Sweden, just on Friday. And he dropped language that nobody in that room was expecting.
04:58Basically, a jaw-dropping moment. He told allies, and this is a direct quote,
05:02we also have to have a plan B. We have to start thinking about what we do if a few
05:06weeks from now,
05:07Iran decides we don't care. We're going to keep the strait of four moves close. We're going to sink
05:12any ship that doesn't listen to us or doesn't pay us. Then someone's going to have to do something
05:16about it. So Rubio's basically telling NATO, partners, yeah, things could kick back off if the IRGC
05:22stays hardline. Hmm. The IRGC is staying hardline. Yeah, we never saw that one coming at all.
05:28But their new general, Vahidi, he's the head of the IRGC. This guy is likely the one who's
05:34consolidating power in Iran, basically putting full pressure on any of the Western politicians
05:38that could be trying to be part of the negotiation process. We know Galliboth is part of that
05:43negotiation process as well. An extreme hardliner himself, but even more hardline having this Vahidi
05:48guy behind the scenes who's basically just willing to completely go down with the ship.
05:52And that's the MMO of the IRGC. Potentially more carpet bombing along the coast, along the street
05:57of Hormuz, with the B-52 and the B-1. Carpet bombing means just swathes of the coastline that could
06:04be
06:04used for drone storage, underground naval bases, fully preparing that area for opening the strait of
06:09foremost by crushing any warehouses that could have those fast attack boats in them. But then,
06:14on the maritime front, CENTCOM just confirmed today that over a hundred commercial vessels
06:18that were going in and out of Iran ports have been pushed back into their ports. And Iran hasn't
06:23had the ships pushed back into their ports so hard in a while. They're basically going to be walking
06:27funny for years at this point. But the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group remains on station
06:32in the Arabian Sea. That's two carrier strike groups now total because the Ford ended up coming back
06:37home. So now we've got two massive supercarriers in the region doing 24-7 operations. And then
06:43meanwhile, Iran has created a new government agency. They call it the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.
06:50On May 20th, it published an official graphic complete with logo and jurisdictional map declaring
06:55a controlled maritime zone, basically going beyond the 13.8 miles that international law says.
07:01Iran, can you just play by the international laws just a little bit?
07:04And Iran's like, no, we're going to create an official controlled maritime zone that's completely
07:09counter to every legal rule around any maritime operation in the world. And then the world's like,
07:14really? Can you just be sort of normal? And Iran's like, no, we're crazy. But it spans the entire
07:21strait of H for H for H for H for H for H for H for H for H for
07:26H form. So Iran isn't just blocking the
07:28strait. They're trying to legitimize a permanent toll system on the world's most critical energy choke point.
07:33That's their last domino. We've talked about it a lot before on the channel. At some point,
07:39in my opinion, the US military is just going to have to fully focus on the strait of Hormuz.
07:44Is that coming here soon? And then Marco Rubio's response to that was, that's just not acceptable.
07:49It can't happen. If that were to happen in the strait of Hormuz, it will happen in five other places
07:54around the world. Basically, other terrorists, think Houthi rebel types, taking advantage of that
08:00system and doing the exact same thing to other waterways. Basically, Iran's trying to legalize
08:05being the pirate of those waterways, collecting a bounty from everyone going through. The Islamic
08:10Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. That is the main counterbalance in Iran. That is the main thing
08:15keeping Iran hardlined from the negotiation table. It's not the conventional Iranian navy. This is a
08:20separate force built from the ground up for one mission. Asymmetric warfare in the confined waters
08:25of the Persian Gulf and the straight up formulas. That's what they do. Full stop.
08:30Their doctrine is called swarm tactics. Overwhelm a larger, more powerful adversary with sheer numbers,
08:35speed, and coordination. So think 500 hornets versus one bear. At some point, that's not going
08:40to go very well for the bear. Or at least it's going to be very annoying. So their specific platforms
08:45are
08:45the Pi-Cap missile boats armed with anti-H ship missiles. Sea skimming low profile radar is what they're
08:51built for. And then the Zulfager fast attack craft, high speed, capable of carrying torpedoes and rockets.
08:56Those boats are built to cause as much chaos in the strait of form as possible.
09:01But the targeting chain against the IRGC Navy is basically built in layers at this point.
09:06So layer one is detection, and that would be with the Egypt system, or the F-35C.
09:10The radar on the F-35C is so capable. Spotting those fast attack craft among the waves is just
09:16an average Tuesday for that F-35C. 33 fast attack craft. The F-35C is like, oh man, this is
09:23a nice day.
09:23Ah, I'm just going to take a little nap and detect 50 fast attack craft while I'm also meditating.
09:29That's the level of capability of that F-35 radar. And then they're going to pump that
09:34information to other assets, like the F-15E, the A-10. Basically give them targeting coordinates of
09:39where these fast attack boats are and where they're coming from. That will be one of the main platforms
09:43striking down those fast attack boats. The A-10 rolling in with that 30 milliliter cannon,
09:48one of those things going through the hole of that fiberglass boat from Iran. And it's not going to be
09:53a good day for that crew. Now, let's talk about the little brother of the A-10. Now, I'm not
09:58calling
09:59this a replacement for the A-10. I know a lot of you just spit out your coffee all over
10:03your screen.
10:04Don't worry, I'm not saying that this is a replacement for the A-10, but it is an aircraft that
10:08you need to know about. It's the OA-1K Skyraider II. This is that decked out crop duster I was
10:14telling you
10:14about earlier. This is the aircraft that Iran doesn't see coming at this point. So, per the
10:19official ASOC, that's Air Force Special Operations Command, for you acronym junkies that really needed
10:25that, that were sitting there basically scratching your neck going through acronym withdrawals,
10:29don't worry, I got you. But what ASOC is saying about the OA-1K is it is a purpose-built
10:35light
10:35attack and armed ISR aircraft designed for exactly this threat environment. Persistent overwatch,
10:41close air support, precision strikes from austere operating locations, middle of nowhere,
10:46little dirt strip. That's what this thing does very well. But right now, 18 are in ASOC's hands,
10:51doing training with 45 under contract. ASOC's armed Overwatch branch chief put it this way,
10:57any place, any time, anywhere. That's not just a motto, that's an actual capability. Multiple OA-1Ks fit
11:05in a single C-17, disassembled, flown anywhere in the world, reassembled, and combat ready in hours.
11:10It's not in the straightforward moods yet. Combat entry is slated for Q4 of 2027,
11:16but the training pipeline is running hot right now. These things are flying and training every
11:20single day right now. And in my opinion, once they become combat ready, they're going to be at the
11:26tip of the spear with the A-10 and other aircraft because they fly so slow and they can go
11:30in and
11:31strafe these fast attack boats and basically fly in formation with these Shawhead drones and take them
11:36down because taking down Shawhead drones with an F-15E is just wild. Not built to take on slow movers
11:41like that, like it has been doing. So, enter this Sky Raider and now the US has basically a multi
11:46-tool
11:47to strike down drones and fast attack craft. You made it to the global roundup section, my friends.
11:52So, let's talk about the Pentagon UFO file dump. So, the Pentagon released a second wave of
11:58declassified UAP files just on Friday on yesterday. More than 50 videos and 222 documents that have
12:04been classified for decades. The most striking footage that I saw was from that F-16 from the
12:09Air National Guard engaging an unidentified object over Lake Hiran in February 12th of 2023.
12:15And in the clip, it basically looks like a weather balloon being shot down but then it's followed by a
12:20white orb floating across the frame and vanishing. Nobody in the federal government is currently
12:24explaining what the orb is. But to me, that little orb definitely looks interesting, right?
12:29Because you see the massive explosion happen with what could have been a balloon going bye-bye,
12:34but it's really hard to explain that orb. So, I'll do a full breakdown UFO video at some point,
12:38don't worry. And that brings us to the 40-chest strategic analysis section. So, let's talk about
12:44what Iran actually wants. They want to end the war, without surrendering anything in their nuclear files.
12:50Their proposal is reopen the strait if the US lifts its blockade and ends the war,
12:54and deal with the nukes later separately with guarantees. And Iran's new supreme leader,
12:59Maja Kim-Ameni, has reportedly drawn that hard line that Iranian officials are not to discuss the
13:05nuclear program and negotiations because they know this is the main thing, the biggest thing to keep
13:09the regime in power. If they're able to get that weapon, then they can really bully around the entire
13:14Middle East and they think they won't ever get hit again by Israel or the US. That's their last thing
13:19that they see, in addition to the strait of Hormuz, and that's why they don't want to negotiate about
13:23it. Which is basically drawing a massive impasse behind what the US wants and what Iran is willing
13:29to do. So, does that mean that strikes kick back off here soon? Let me know what you think in
13:34the
13:35comments below. Would love to hear what you have to say. Thanks so much for watching, guys. This is Ryan,
13:39also known as Max Afterburner, signing off. Oh yeah, I kind of think about like an IRGC Naval
13:46commander job listing. It's like we are seeking a motivated, experienced maritime professional for
13:50a senior leadership role with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. Some of the
13:54responsibilities include commanding a fleet of highly chaotic speed patrol vessels in a 21-meter
14:00wide body of water, where we have created our new exclusive zone that's completely counter to
14:04international law. So, are you a bit of a rebel? Do you like breaking international law? You might be the
14:10right fit for us. Can you conduct toll collection operations on behalf of the sovereign Persian Gulf
14:15Authority? Well, great. You might be the perfect fit. And can you also attend weekly briefings on why
14:21the A-10 warthog is not a real threat, and how the US basically hasn't done anything and there's no
14:27scratch at all on Iran? And if you want someone else's opinion, sorry. Previous applicants have been
14:32unavailable for follow-up calls for some reason. They're just not returning our calls and we don't know why.
14:37And if you get hired now, we're offering free life insurance at least for a couple weeks.
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