Analysis: Has there been a change in tactic? | Iran war

Yeah, we do tend to be focused on Tehran, but we have to remember it's a big country and a lot of the targets probably are not in very highly populated areas, so we wouldn't always get to hear about them. As you say, the the Trump it's been in incredibly intensive activity all the way across the country. We haven't got time to go into them, but in in the near term, you try to roll back the Iranian air defenses. Then you start going over the missile systems, and it looks like the next phase of the war, it's what America is doing now, is they think they can operate over Iran with relative impunity. In other words, they've got air superiority over there, but now they both President Trump said he want to increase the bombing rate. Well, fighter jets only carry two or three bombs. Therefore, you start to bring in the big bombers. And that's why we've seen these B1 Lancers arrive at RAF Fairford. We've also seen some transport aircraft, C5s and C7s operating out of there as well. Um, here's one of the B1 bombers. It's only significant because these things can carry literally 10 times as many bombs. thing carry 28 cruise missiles. So they are very potent. Um the only challenge of course this morning that there were some that were due to be landing in here in the UK had to be diverted to Rammstein in Germany because the great British weather um stopped them landing but that that would be trivialized. You know there's clearly a lot of movements. There's also the transport aircraft. These massive trans we don't know what they're carrying. Um they could be just on routine flights but it's very likely they're carrying weapons and stuff like that. You'd normally transport weapons um across uh using at sea because you can carry many more of them. But of course, it takes a long time. In the back of these things, you can generally put quite a lot of weapons in the back there. >> Big old thing, isn't it? It's enormous. >> Yeah, they I mean, some of these aircraft, they can put two tanks in the back. So, they can literally carry enormous amounts. If we then flip over, that's what the Israelis and the Americans doing to Iran. But, as you said, we've heard Sally and others talk about what Iran is doing back. Uh, and of course there's been attacks in Kuwait, the Dubai Tower. One of the things we're seeing a slightly reduced number of these ballistic missiles coming in, but of course the number of drones, the Shahid 136 drones that Iran has, these are relatively cheap. They they only fly at sort of 130, 140 mph, but there's rumors there could be up to 70,000 of these that Iran has. And while one may not get through if it's fired one at a time, 50, 100 deluge defenses. >> And do you get a sense of a change to tactics? Iran certainly says that that civilian infrastructure, for example, the big oil facilities are being attacked and we're seeing the same too in the likes of Bahrain. Do you do you see a change in tactic? >> Well, if I was um on the American side, you know, once you've got air superiority, the challenge is military action is only a means to an end. The end is a political end state. So, what are you trying to achieve? Degrade the ability to enrich uranium. We're probably going to be seeing targets hit, but they tend to be quite remote, so we wouldn't get much reporting on them. The other bit of course is the IRGC. You're actually going to start degrading. We've watched all of the Iranian um military, the navy be lost, the air force be lost. I suspect they're going to start focusing on the army. For the Iranians themselves, ultimately it's very difficult to see them winning. But all they have to do is not lose. And at the moment, if America is not prepared to put boots on the ground, it doesn't matter how much you pound the outside, they're still going to survive. So I think it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out. >> Indeed. And of course we have heard that a new UK supreme leader has been appointed. We don't know who yet, but of course we'll bring that to our viewers as soon as we get it. Let's just go back to our focus on the UK. We we heard that HMS Dragon is ready to be deployed by Tuesday. Word of talking. I know you'll be looking at the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. What's the very latest on that? >> Well, so here's Dragon. Yes, there was um slight confusion. I mean, the British forces have a lot forward deployed in Cyprus. There's jets, there's support and everything. But this is one of the newest ships in the Royal Naval Infantry. There's six of them. It does seem very odd that one of them wasn't wasn't deployed. Well, in a rush, we've now heard that is going to be deployed on Tuesday. It is worth pointing out though, this is a ship, but a ship doesn't equal military capability because you need people in there. They need to be properly trained and ready to go. And I would not underestimate, every time I used to go to see on the carriers, you everybody has a role in safety and security. If fires break out, it's really dangerous. you you there's a lot of training. So although that will deploy on Tuesday, it'll probably have some brand new faces on board and they'll need a bit of training on their way. >> Briefly, you said it's odd it wasn't deployed. Should have been deployed earlier. What do you think? >> I think there's a a case that, you know, I think it just reflects at how thinly spread the military is. This the HMS Prince of Wales here, that was the other thing that was talked about. This has been we've been deployed one of the carriers to the Far East for several months. By the time that comes back, everybody needs a break. the ship needs to be refreshed. The Royal Navy was looking to go to the high north next. All of a sudden, it's not easy that you can just suddenly wind up a ship. And the carriers are a good example. We have um four nuclear submarines to keep one at sea the whole time. And our nuclear deterrent, we've only got two carriers, so they can't guarantee to be always available. The trouble is it's a bit like a fire brigade that's only available some days a week. And that doesn't really work.

Military analyst Sean Bell examines whether there has been a change in tactic, in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. He says "for the Iranians themselves - ultimately it is very difficult to see them winning but all they have to do is not lose". "If America is not prepared to put boots on the ground, it does not matter how much you pound the outside - they are still going to survive," he added. Live updates: https://news.sky.com/story/iran-latest-trump-tehran-israel-strikes-us-drone-live-sky-news-13509565 #skynews #worldnews #iran #middleeast #unitedstates SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more videos: http://www.youtube.com/skynews Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skynews Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skynews Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skynews Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skynews For more content go to http://news.sky.com and download our apps: Apple https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sky-news/id316391924?mt=8 Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bskyb.skynews.android&hl=en_GB Sky News Daily podcast is available for free here: https://podfollow.com/skynewsdaily/ To enquire about licensing Sky News content, you can find more information here: https://news.sky.com/info/library-sales