US and Israel: Co-Belligerents in the Gulf, Not Just Allies
The continuous churn of headlines about unidentified projectiles striking cargo vessels in the Strait of Hormuz invariably frames Iran as the aggressor. This framing conveniently omits the visible, integrated presence of US and Israeli military forces in the region, operating in close coordination. The US Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, consistently engages in joint exercises with the
Israeli Navy, a development that formally cemented Israel's inclusion in the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility in 2021. This logistical re-alignment was explicitly designed to counter Iran, blurring the lines between American and Israeli strategic objectives to the point of co-belligerency. Such deployments of B-52 bombers and aircraft carrier strike groups, ostensibly for
deterrence, are in practice highly provocative. These actions occur against a backdrop of 45 years of US sanctions against Iran, initiated shortly after the 1979 revolution and continuously tightened, stifling economic development and access to critical medicines. The narrative of Iranian threats to shipping serves to justify this aggressive posture, while ignoring the material reality of an
embargoed nation facing immense military pressure. During the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, the US supplied Iraq with satellite intelligence and dual-use chemical precursors, a stark historical precedent for aiding an aggressor against Iran. Accusations of impending Iranian nuclear proliferation or pre-emptive strikes consistently surface without verifiable evidence, mirroring the pre-2003 Iraq war