ISHFAHAN

THE SUPERCHARGED RESCUE mission to recover a downed American airman recently, has revealed a curious fact about the current conflict between the US and Iran: the Americans may have more military bases in Iran than the Iranians do.

“Most of these bases are likely temporary: set up, used and then discarded once a task is complete, rather like what happened in the hunt for the downed airman,” explained former Green Beret Rabyd Harm, who once held a pass in Afghanistan using chop sticks and a pair of women’s underwear . “Others though, will be of a more permanent nature, involving stores, equipment and small human teams.

“There’s nothing new in this. The British had deep penetration groups with bases behind enemy lines in the Western Desert during WW2; and the allies dropped multiple teams into France ahead of D-Day. In the Middle East today, the Israelis have pioneered these tactics, having employed agents and operatives in the Islamic Republic, assisting their attacks. America has taken the idea and force multiplied it. And, curiously, the mountainous nature of Iran that everyone talks about, it actually assists this kind of thing. Special Forces, with almost total command of the air, can be continuously in and out of Iran, employing helicopters, drones, and even vertical take off and landing fighters; setting up bases, striking, moving on, or moving out. It means that boots on the ground never stay anywhere on the ground for too long. You have a rolling guerilla-like operation, observing, striking, withdrawing, setting up somewhere else. The Iranians may rarely even know where their attackers came from, let alone see them. But they are there, all around, hidden, smart, silent.”