Alastair Crooke, a former British diplomat and founder of the Conflicts Forum, said in an interview with Glenn Diesen on the third day of the war, that Iran’s military campaign is unfolding in structured phases—and that the United States is already losing control of the situation.
Crooke described Iran’s strategy as two-pronged: a sustained assault on U.S. bases across the Persian Gulf using drones and short-range missiles, and a phased campaign against Israel designed to systematically exhaust its air defenses before introducing faster, more advanced weapons—including hypersonics with multiple warheads that Israeli systems cannot intercept above Mach 4.
He said Gulf states’ air defenses are nearly spent, with Iranian drones now flying freely over Dubai. The U.S. Fifth Fleet facilities in Bahrain have sustained enormous damage, and American bases are being evacuated. The Gulf states’ entire economic brand—tourism, finance, airlines—has been shattered, Crooke argued, and the region will never return to what it was.
