One more time. Peak retardation.👇
BREAKING: The US Navy has completely withdrawn its warships from the blockade line around Iran after Iran’s first operational use of the advanced Qasem Basir “carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missile, with satellite imagery showing no US carriers or destroyers in the Gulf of Oman or Arabian Sea since early September, per open-source intelligence and Sentinel-2 data.
The Qasem Basir has a declared range of roughly 1,200 kilometers — enough to cover nearly the entire Gulf of Oman and the US fleet’s previous positions — and is reportedly equipped with electro-optical and thermal imaging seekers designed to track naval targets. SNSC Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said the missile “created hell for the Americans,” while CENTCOM acknowledged US vessels came under attack by hostile missiles but said they were defeated without damage.
Satellite imagery shows the USS George Washington, USS George H.W. Bush, USS Tripoli and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are no longer visible in the designated blockade zone, with the line reportedly pushed beyond the missile’s range. The USS Gerald R. Ford has also left the Middle East after a ten-month deployment, leaving the US with two carriers in the region as CENTCOM prepares “short and strong” strike options against Iran.
The blockade remains in place on paper, but the warships enforcing it have reportedly moved beyond the range of Iran’s anti-ship missiles.