In what is becoming a recurring theme, U.S. Central Command on Wednesday morning announced a B-52 presence flight in the Persian Gulf. It’s another unnecessary and wasteful deployment.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this B-52 mission is the sixth since last fall, when concerns began bubbling up in the Trump administration about Iran possibly using the anniversary of Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death to target U.S. forces and assets. Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike as his car exited Baghdad airport in Iraq.
Fortunately, the anniversary came and went without a military crisis. Yet the long-range bomber missions are continuing, presumably to demonstrate to Tehran that it’s business as usual despite the change of power in Washington. The question, though, is whether business as usual is the best use of the U.S. military’s time and resources. B-52 exercises seem to be reflexive go-to-options for the Pentagon. There is nothing particularly novel about them; the folks working for the defense secretary, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Central Command are intimately familiar with the process of planning and executing these deployments. But are these missions actually necessary?
Kathryn Wheelbarger, who served as the acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the Trump administration, believes the answer is no. Writing in December, she and co-author Dustin Walker argued that overflights designed to deter Iran not only have a minimal effect but actually strain the U.S. military by diverting weapons systems and training hours away from the commanders who most need them. “Continuing this approach wastes taxpayer dollars, drains military readiness, and deprives the United States of ready forces needed to compete with and deter China and Russia,” they said.
Their assessment is correct. If the U.S. government is actually serious about evolving U.S. security policy towards great power competition with China and Russia, then the Pentagon needs to get a wake-up call. The Joint Chiefs should deemphasize the Middle East as a strategic priority and ease up on the military exercises that deplete their agility. As destabilizing as Iran’s regional behavior can be — Tehran’s material support to violent proxies is a core part of its foreign policy and won’t change anytime soon — modern-day Iran is not the 21st-century version of the Persian Empire. While Iran may have the largest missile arsenal in the region, its antiquated defense systems, subpar ground forces, and flimsy air force mean Tehran simply can’t go toe-to-toe with the U.S.
Iranian leaders realize this. They understand that a military conflict with Washington is a prospective death-sentence to their regime, hence why the Iranians rely so heavily on asymmetrical tactics and extensive proxy relationships. Why U.S. policymakers believe conventional platforms like B-52s, F-35s, or massive aircraft carriers like the USS Nimitz can deter this activity is unclear.
President Biden has promised a change in Iranian policy, one that prioritizes dialogue over a maximum pressure strategy, which failed to accomplish a single U.S. objective and compelled Tehran to double down on its bad behavior. Forgive me, but I fail to see how B-52 flights over the Persian Gulf serve the new strategy.
Daniel DePetris (@DanDePetris) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. His opinions are his own.
