Oh, also, the way they got past a great deal of the air defence last time was taking out larger stationary air defence systems with smuggled in anti-tank missiles on stands using starlink and mobile internet. US battlespace maps show all known radar signatures, so this large covert operation (Iran’s border gets extremely mountainous and porous, really impossible to lock down currently, it’s not a simple task to put it mildly) limited them to their ambush air defenses that at least keep the planes out. The F-35s were needed to extend the range of the standoff weapons. TONS of refuels. If the aircraft carriers are hit with anything we are looking at an insanely long distance for these sorties in order to damage Iran. The longer this goes on the harder it gets for the US. The strait of hormuz is a huge economic chokepoint a real keystone of US financial power. I have no idea why they would risk this. Are they insane? Are they going to use nuclear weapons?

Because there isn’t enough extra firepower on the western side if you measure it out, air defence systems on the Israeli side were degraded, interceptor stocks are critically low and shared with Ukraine which is frequently getting hammered with the most insane strike maps I’ve ever seen, Iran has better escalation options that have not become involved: striking US assets, striking Saudi oil refineries etc thru Yemen, Hezbollah becoming involved with whatever is left of their full gotterdammerung strike setup, using newer and better and more specialized missiles.

Military shipments from allies are mostly unknown but we do know they have much better long-range radars that can detect things like the RA01 stealth drone and F35 much better.