Ayatollah’s arsenal vs. American firepower: Iran’s top 4 threats and how we fight back
Ayatollah Khamenei on X ramped up threats to send U.S. warships to the bottom of the sea. “Americans constantly say that they’ve sent a warship toward Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware. However, more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea,” he (or his minions) tweeted Feb 17.
Admiral Brad Cooper, who’s in charge of United States Central Command, has forces to counter Iran, and to carry out strikes if so ordered. Sadly, Iran has taken American lives over the years, and now the regime is desperate. With the airspace laid bare by attacks on integrated air defenses prior to Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran has little ability to defend against stealth aircraft.
Count on Iran trying to hit U.S. ships and bases.
Here are the four top tactics in the ayatollah’s arsenal – and how the U.S. will fight back.
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Ballistic missiles
Iran launched short- and medium-range ballistic missiles against the U.S. airbase at Al Udeid, in Qatar, on June 23, 2025. A skeleton crew of American soldiers with two Patriot missile batteries intercepted Iran’s missiles. “We believe that this is the largest single Patriot engagement in U.S. military history,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine in a Pentagon briefing the next day.
The U.S. Space Force will once again be on alert to detect the heat of Iranian missile launches and cue the target tracks. Iran’s ballistic missiles can attack multiple targets, but U.S. forces are ready to intercept. In 2024, American Navy destroyers sailing in the eastern Mediterranean nailed Iranian missiles with nose-on shots. They used Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), both the older Block 1 and the wide-coverage Block 2A. SM-3 is a hit-to-kill weapon: it smashed Iran’s missiles at 65,000 feet, in the exo-atmosphere, using just the 600-mph velocity. Bullet hits bullet. That’s why Navy destroyers are fanned out from the Med to the North Arabian Gulf.
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Drones
Iran manufactures a lot of drones, but they are going to die if they tangle with U.S. forces. A Marine Corps fighter pilot flying an F-35C from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln shot down one of Iran’s Shahed drones on Feb. 3. That was a Shahed-139 surveillance drone, which also carries glide bombs and can loiter for up to 24 hours. It got too close to the aircraft carrier, as Central Command put it.
Victory credit goes to the “Black Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron VMFA-314, as reported by USNI News. The drone kill was easy work for the F-35C, with its sensitive, long-range radar and vectoring by Navy E-2D radar planes, which fly with a massive dish radar to sort out good guys and bad guys. Forward surveillance by the E-2Ds will be essential if Iran launches waves of drones toward U.S. ships. USS Gerald R. Ford en route could add options for day and night combat air patrols against drones and missiles.
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If the attack is over land, look for the U.S. Air Force to pounce. Over the last two years, American pilots have become masters of anti-drone tactics. It started when U.S. Air Force F-15E “Strike Eagles” from an undisclosed Mideast base shot down waves of Iranian drones in April 2024. At one point, crew chiefs came out of bunkers while the base was under fire to pull the arming pins on weapons before the F-15Es took off. They are ready to do it again.
Swarming boats
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The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps navy has a long history of harassment with small boats, and they like to boast about their exercises with “swarms” of boats. That’s over. Iran thug small boats can’t form up to “swarm” under the constant eye – and guns – of this many U.S. ships and planes. Foolishly, two Iranian small boats and a drone tried to “swarm” a Swedish tanker carrying fuel for U.S. forces. How did that work out? Well, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS McFaul ran them off, as Air Force land-based fighter planes zoomed out to assist.
Cruise missiles
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Iran is stuffed with cruise missiles of various types. Their low, snaking path makes them difficult targets. The good news is the U.S. Navy has done a lot of target practice on Houthi missiles , like when the destroyer USS Gravely deployed its “C-whiz” Phalanx Close-In Weapon System against a sea-skimming Houthi missile one mile from the ship back on Jan. 30, 2024. Typically, Navy missiles like the SM-6 and the Evolved Sea Sparrow can nail the cruise missiles a dozen miles out. F-35 fighters are good at chasing down cruise missiles, too.
U.S. forces have the edge over the ayatollah’s arsenal. But make no mistake. This is a combat zone. Constant vigilance will be key to survival. Navy sailors and the airmen, Marines, soldiers and Space Force Guardians will feel the pressure and intensity of 24/7 operations. Maintainers and ground crews at land bases have jets to fuel, arm and launch, even against incoming drones and missiles. Force protection is top priority and the reason for the sheer number of forces now in U.S. Central Command. You can see why Trump has long sought curbs on Iran’s missile arsenal, and why missile and drone production sites are likely top of the target list for U.S. forces if diplomacy fails.
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US assets in Middle East positioned for ‘highly kinetic’ war, ex-Pentagon official warns
The U.S. is in position for a “highly kinetic” campaign against Iran after launching one of its largest recent military buildups in the Middle East, a former senior Pentagon official has claimed.
Dana Stroul, now research director at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, made the assessment Sunday as Washington and Tehran prepare for a second round of indirect nuclear talks in Oman.
“The U.S. military is ready for a sustained, highly kinetic campaign should President Trump order it, and also prepared to defend allies and partners in the Middle East from Iran’s missiles,” Stroul told Fox News Digital.
“The U.S. military can rapidly reposition assets from all over the world and deploy overwhelmingly lethal force in a short period of time to one theater,” she said before highlighting how there is “no ally or enemy capable of what we have seen from the U.S. in this current buildup.”
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Describing how the current posture differs from the June 2025 strikes on Iranian-linked nuclear targets, Stroul said the U.S. has expanded its offensive and defensive capabilities.
“Two U.S. aircraft carriers and their accompanying vessels and air wings were stationed in the Middle East last summer during the 12-day war and the U.S. Operation Midnight Hammer,” she explained.
“The addition of the Ford is really important, it expands U.S. offensive capabilities if we go to war with Iran,” she said.
While in June 2025, the U.S. carried out limited but highly targeted strikes against Iranian nuclear infrastructure to degrade key facilities without triggering a regional war, now, Stroul said the force posture is broader and more sustained.
The U.S. has also “increased the number of guided-missile destroyers, fighter aircraft, refuelers, and air defense systems” in the region, she explained.
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The deployment of aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln has assumed heightened strategic importance.
USS Gerald R. Ford was recently tracked transiting the Strait of Gibraltar eastward, while USS Abraham Lincoln is operating in the Arabian Sea.
“They will both be in the Middle East CENTCOM theater,” Stroul explained before clarifying that there could be “one in the eastern Mediterranean and the other in the Arabian Gulf.”
“There would probably be a combination of reasons for that based on availability, readiness, proximity to the Middle East.
“The Ford was heading home and directed to turn around,” she added.
While the specific destinations of the carriers have not been publicly disclosed for operational security reasons, their presence alone signals escalatory leverage and deterrence.
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The military buildup comes as indirect diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran continue, with Oman once again serving as a mediator Feb. 26.
Stroul argued that Iran’s leadership is trying to balance brinkmanship with negotiation.
“Iran’s leaders are playing a weak hand by combining saber-rattling about their own capabilities, staging preparations and exercises to signal readiness,” she claimed.
“They are attempting to slow this down by pursuing negotiations. No one should be under any illusions about the reality of US dominance — Iran is completely outmatched in conventional terms,” Stroul said.
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“Israel dominated Iranian airspace in one day last year, targeted many of Iran’s security leaders, took out half of its missile arsenal, and the U.S. significantly set back its nuclear program,” Stroul said.
Iran’s long-cultivated network of proxies across the region — including Hezbollah, Shiite militias in Iraq, and elements in Syria — has also been weakened after sustained Israeli military pressure.
“Iran’s long-cultivated network of proxies across the region is degraded after more than two years of Israeli operations, and they declined to enter the war and support Iran’s defense last summer,” Stroul explained.
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“No matter what Iran’s leaders say, Iran is not able to rebuild a decades-long project in a few months.”
“That said, the U.S. military is in a position to execute whatever orders President Trump gives,” she said. “It is not a question of military readiness, but a political decision.”
Iran unrest escalates as gunfire, tear gas hit universities amid looming US strike
Tensions flared Sunday across Iran as anti-government protests reignited at major universities and in the streets of Tehran, with reports of tear gas and shots fired in the capital.
Students gathered in Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad to mark 40-day memorials for those killed during January’s nationwide anti-government demonstrations before violence broke out.
Ali Safavi, a member of Iran’s Parliament-in-Exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital anti-government protests at the University of Tehran featured chants such as, “This is the year of blood,” and noted that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot at protesters at another location in the city.
“At Khajeh Nasir University in Tehran, students trampled on Khamenei’s picture, while similar acts took place at Ferdowsi and Sajjad universities,” Safavi said.
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“Students were shouting ‘death to the oppressor, whether the Shah or the Leader,’ while in Tehran’s Vali Asr Street forces fired at the crowds, which were mostly young people,” he added.
Safavi also claimed that two motorcycle units composed of men and women affiliated with resistance groups paraded through parts of Tehran carrying flags of the National Liberation Army (NLA), the armed wing associated with the NCRI.
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In a statement circulated online, university students also condemned what they described as renewed attempts by authorities to suppress dissent.
“Once again we see that the tainted hands of monopolists seek to turn this sacred space into a playground for reactionary forces,” the statement read. “We who have tasted the bitter experience of repression accept no form of dictatorship, whether with a turban or with boots,” it said.
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Iran’s state TV showed videos of what it said were people “pretending to be students” attacking pro-government students in Tehran who were taking part in protests to condemn January’s protests.
The individuals were allegedly injuring students by throwing rocks, Reuters reported.
Some witness accounts and opposition groups described a more forceful response by authorities.
Security forces reportedly fired tear gas at crowds of demonstrators, many of them young people.
At other locations, the protesters also confronted groups of pro-regime demonstrators.
Reports from opposition sources indicated that shots were also fired as security units attempted to disperse gatherings that had spilled beyond campus grounds into surrounding streets.
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Nighttime mobilizations also continued for a second time, with large-scale protests reported across several campuses.
The clashes marked one of the most visible displays of unrest since January’s crackdown and came as Iran faces a potential military strike by the U.S. and amid ongoing talks to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program.