One step/point at a time if I may :lol:

Sea mines....they have to lay them first and even if they do, it shouldn't be too hard to clear a navigation channel.

Speed boats in the dark....infra red/night vision/radar/listening sensors. I should also imagine they won't be launching from nearby because of the 'eye in the sky' looking down on them....certainly able to give sufficient early warning of movement.

Iranian missiles...leave them to the airforce and the tomahawks. It might also mean Special Forces pay the odd visit.

Your right, airborne detection does have it's limits, but the allied capability is far in excess of what the Iranians can pit against it....and that is a 24/7 capability.

I should imagine most of the Iranian capability is already tagged should there ever be the need for a pre-emptive surgical strike at the first sign of them becoming a threat to the oil route.

I suppose the only way to see who is right here would be if the situation over there deteriorates to such a serious level.

One thing I am sure of....the US in particular and hopefully the west in general will never allow the Iranians, a country currently under so much suspicion of preparing for wrongdoing, to cut off the supply of oil.

Skybird's right, Jim. The constant mirror imaging of Iranian defensive thought - the assumptions that they will keep everything neat and tidy in the Western way and hold tight while we sail in and blast them - is likely why blue forces have suffered unacceptable losses against Iran-like red forces in some war scenarios I have been told about. The technological superiority of the West is granted but it must also be granted that Iran would pull out the stops and play dirty. Planners need to use some imagination:

I would expect that Iranian officials have their fingers on the pulse of Middle Eastern tensions and would when to execute a good pre-emptive plan to welcome the West. Expect maybe civilian-flagged freighters or pleasure craft with bellies full of mines and missiles sent to some port in Qatar before the fireworks kick off. Iranian submarines should be sortied in advance, as well, to hide in some deep pocket of the Gulf and wait things out until blue task groups are confident in their security.

I think the result of those things would probably create enough confusion and muck-ups in communication long enough to roll out the SCUD launchers that would probably be hidden inside mosques....

Many thought the same about attacking Bin Laden, and look at how that ended up.

But, what about the political side of a potential war? I notice nobody has mentioned intervention by the Russians. If they United States were to attack the IR, Russia would almost certainly take the side of the Iranians to protect their oil investments (and Russia is a big customer for Iran). Imagine the consequences of that...

I must get out my old Victory Games box of Gulf Strike... Too bad it's rules do not cover asymmetrical warfare.

Has it ever been turned into a PC strategy game?

http://www.sweetkiss.net/~sk006/wzc/...GulfStrike.png
http://www.sweetkiss.net/~sk006/wzc/...ulfStrike5.png
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a2...f/IMG_1320.jpg

That was pretty huge a map in size!

A quarter of a century ago. My God...

Politics asid for one minute:

Gulf Strike was a great early game.....I might still have it up in my loft. :rock:

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/741/img1320vw4.jpg

Back OT:

Your all wrong...the West would still win hands down :lol:

I knew there would be a problem with this test when I saw Mahmoud Ahmaddinejad approaching the weapon in his bad fitting Walmart jacket and lighting a long piece of blue paper sticking out of the ass end of the missile.

Oh my god !!! Other people know about this game !! I have two copies of it including Aegean Strike !! This is a fantastic game, although with today's political climate, some of the scenarios that made sense at the time are now laughable. This game has the "Mother of all turn sequences". I think it's the most complicated wargame in my collection asside from Harpoon4 and the rest of the Admiralty Series.
Your post brings back so many memories.