This past week, explosions struck Iran’s Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, and Sirik near the Strait of Hormuz, with Fox News reporting the US military carried out strikes on Iranian port targets.
The three US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers involved in the May 7 confrontation, USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason, were allegedly positioned as highly visible targets designed to provoke an Iranian response. They were not simply transiting.
Iran Watcher believes it was bait. and switch
The IRGC’s “mosquito fleet” doctrine relies on swarms of fast attack boats, drones, coastal missile launches, and asymmetric harassment tactics launched from concealed positions along the Persian Gulf coastline and nearby islands. The destroyers looked vulnerable but weren’t. They were prepared. The moment the attack began, US ISR assets, including radar aircraft, drones, satellites, and naval systems, traced launch signatures and identified attack vectors in real time. That allowed the US military to rapidly expose and target parts of Iran’s hidden launch infrastructure connected to the assault.
Reported targets included IRGC-linked positions on Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Khamir, and Sirik coastal missile launch infrastructure, drone and fast attack boat staging sites, mine-laying vessels, weapons storage, and logistics facilities.
No US destroyers were hit. For years, the Islamic Republic relied on concealment, deniability, underground infrastructure, dispersed launch systems, and swarm tactics designed to complicate retaliation and avoid direct conventional confrontation. Instead, the attack exposed elements of that network in real time and allowed the US to rapidly strike supporting infrastructure behind it without a prolonged escalation cycle.
Effective Modern Military Strategy
According to Iran Observer, this is modern military strategy at its most effective: force the enemy to reveal hidden systems through aggression, map operational networks instantly, and destroy critical nodes before they can reposition or disappear.
By forcing Iran to expose key components of its coastal strike network, the US not only defended its vessels but also dealt a significant blow to one of the Islamic Republic’s core asymmetric warfare capabilities in the Gulf.
As the website We Are the Mighty reports, the US military has employed bait-and-switch tactics in various operations throughout its history. For instance, during the Vietnam War, Operation Bolo was a strategic deception plan that aimed to mislead enemy forces into believing they were facing a different type of aircraft, thereby enabling the destruction of MiGs. This operation demonstrated the military’s ability to adapt and outsmart adversaries through cleverly designed deception.
This is new:
⚡️BREAKING
The Iranian Navy announced the deployment of Ghadir-class submarines to the Strait of Hormuz
These submarines are specifically designed to operate in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, where larger submarines can’t maneuver easily pic.twitter.com/Hj5pnn06Ft
— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) May 10, 2026
This is new too:
⚡️JUST IN
Iran plans to take control of the undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz, vital for internet and financial exchanges – Fars News
The Iranian government plans to charge fees for the use of the cables and entrust their maintenance to Iranian companies
These cables… pic.twitter.com/OpyTNSzCC7
— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) May 9, 2026