Ayatollah's arsenal vs. American firepower: Iran's top 4 threats and how we fight back
Ayatollah Khamenei on X ramped up threats to send U.S. warships to the bottom of the sea. "Americans constantly say that they’ve sent a warship toward Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware. However, more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea," he (or his minions) tweeted Feb 17.
Admiral Brad Cooper, who’s in charge of United States Central Command, has forces to counter Iran, and to carry out strikes if so ordered. Sadly, Iran has taken American lives over the years, and now the regime is desperate. With the airspace laid bare by attacks on integrated air defenses prior to Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran has little ability to defend against stealth aircraft.
Count on Iran trying to hit U.S. ships and bases.
Here are the four top tactics in the ayatollah’s arsenal – and how the U.S. will fight back.
Iran launched short- and medium-range ballistic missiles against the U.S. airbase at Al Udeid, in Qatar, on June 23, 2025. A skeleton crew of American soldiers with two Patriot missile batteries intercepted Iran’s missiles. "We believe that this is the largest single Patriot engagement in U.S. military history," said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine in a Pentagon briefing the next day.
The U.S. Space Force will once again be on alert to detect the heat of Iranian missile launches and cue the target tracks. Iran’s ballistic missiles can attack multiple targets, but U.S. forces are ready to intercept. In 2024, American Navy destroyers sailing in the eastern Mediterranean nailed Iranian missiles with nose-on shots. They used Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), both the older Block 1 and the wide-coverage Block 2A. SM-3 is a hit-to-kill weapon: it smashed Iran’s missiles at 65,000 feet, in the exo-atmosphere, using just the 600-mph velocity. Bullet hits bullet. That’s why Navy destroyers are fanned out from the Med to the North Arabian Gulf.
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Iran manufactures a lot of drones, but they are going to die if they tangle with U.S. forces. A Marine Corps fighter pilot flying an F-35C from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln shot down one of Iran’s Shahed drones on Feb. 3. That was a Shahed-139 surveillance drone, which also carries glide bombs and can loiter for up to 24 hours. It got too close to the aircraft carrier, as Central Command put it.
Victory credit goes to the "Black Knights" of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron VMFA-314, as reported by USNI News. The drone kill was easy work for the F-35C, with its sensitive, long-range radar and vectoring by Navy E-2D radar planes, which fly with a massive dish radar to sort out good guys and bad guys. Forward surveillance by the E-2Ds will be essential if Iran launches waves of drones toward U.S. ships. USS Gerald R. Ford en route could add options for day and night combat air patrols against drones and missiles.
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If the attack is over land, look for the U.S. Air Force to pounce. Over the last two years, American pilots have become masters of anti-drone tactics. It started when U.S. Air Force F-15E "Strike Eagles" from an undisclosed Mideast base shot down waves of Iranian drones in April 2024. At one point, crew chiefs came out of bunkers while the base was under fire to pull the arming pins on weapons before the F-15Es took off. They are ready to do it again.
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The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps navy has a long history of harassment with small boats, and they like to boast about their exercises with "swarms" of boats. That’s over. Iran thug small boats can’t form up to "swarm" under the constant eye – and guns – of this many U.S. ships and planes. Foolishly, two Iranian small boats and a drone tried to "swarm" a Swedish tanker carrying fuel for U.S. forces. How did that work out? Well, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS McFaul ran them off, as Air Force land-based fighter planes zoomed out to assist.
Iran is stuffed with cruise missiles of various types. Their low, snaking path makes them difficult targets. The good news is the U.S. Navy has done a lot of target practice on Houthi missiles , like when the destroyer USS Gravely deployed its "C-whiz" Phalanx Close-In Weapon System against a sea-skimming Houthi missile one mile from the ship back on Jan. 30, 2024. Typically, Navy missiles like the SM-6 and the Evolved Sea Sparrow can nail the cruise missiles a dozen miles out. F-35 fighters are good at chasing down cruise missiles, too.
U.S. forces have the edge over the ayatollah’s arsenal. But make no mistake. This is a combat zone. Constant vigilance will be key to survival. Navy sailors and the airmen, Marines, soldiers and Space Force Guardians will feel the pressure and intensity of 24/7 operations. Maintainers and ground crews at land bases have jets to fuel, arm and launch, even against incoming drones and missiles. Force protection is top priority and the reason for the sheer number of forces now in U.S. Central Command. You can see why Trump has long sought curbs on Iran’s missile arsenal, and why missile and drone production sites are likely top of the target list for U.S. forces if diplomacy fails.