US Bases Across Middle East Crippled by Iranian Missile Attacks in February
"The Iranians reached out and touched 18 bases from Erbil in northern Iraq all the way down to Muscat in Oman and took out all radar stations and pitted our runways, hit refueling tankers and AWACS radar planes and took out the entire— not the entire, but a huge percentage of the overlapping radars for the missile defense systems over there."
About this episode
Joe Rogan sat down with Scott Horton, editorial director of Antiwar.com and host of The Scott Horton Show, for a sweeping three-hour discussion on American foreign policy disasters from Iraq to Ukraine to Iran. Horton accused the Trump administration of catastrophic failure in the February 2025 Iran strikes, revealing that US military bases across the Middle East were crippled by Iranian missiles, with 70-75% of Iran's arsenal still intact despite official claims of decimation. He cited satellite evidence and classified leaks showing 18 bases from Iraq to Oman were hit, runways pitted, and the Naval Fifth Fleet station at Bahrain destroyed. Horton also disclosed that a US military commander told troops Trump was anointed by Jesus to trigger Armageddon via Iran strikes, citing reporting from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The conversation turned to the origins of the Iraq War, with Horton detailing the neoconservative Clean Break Doctrine and Paul Wolfowitz's Defense Planning Guidance, which he argued scheduled decades of regime-change wars to benefit Israel. On Ukraine, Horton traced the conflict to two US-backed coups in 2004 and 2014 and NATO expansion that violated promises to Gorbachev, citing George Kennan's warnings. He accused the US of killing 173 Iranian schoolgirls with an experimental Lockheed tungsten-pellet missile in the initial assault. Rogan pressed Horton on why chip manufacturing in Taiwan matters and whether libertarian non-intervention is realistic, with Horton arguing the US empire is bankrupt and ought to withdraw from the Middle East entirely. The episode closed with Horton predicting Iran may break out and build a nuclear weapon in response to the strikes, though he argued their conventional missile force already deters Israel effectively. Throughout, Horton framed American interventionism as driven by short-term political incentives, citing Strobe Talbot's admission that NATO expansion prioritized Lockheed contracts and swing-state votes over long-term strategy.
Key takeaways
- Horton revealed a military commander briefed NCOs that Trump was anointed by Jesus to cause Armageddon in Iran.
- Government officials confirmed to the New York Times and Washington Post that Iran retains 70-75% of its missiles and launchers after US strikes.
- Satellite evidence showed Iran hit 18 US bases from Iraq to Oman, destroying radars, pitting runways, and crippling the Bahrain Naval Fifth Fleet station.
- Horton accused the US of killing 173 schoolgirls in one Iranian school and 20 in another using an experimental Lockheed tungsten-pellet missile.
- The neoconservative Clean Break Doctrine assumed Iraqi Shiites would be controlled by Jordan and turn Hezbollah against Iran to befriend Israel.
- Horton traced the Ukraine war to two US-backed coups in 2004 and 2014 and NATO expansion violating promises to Gorbachev.
- Horton argued the US empire is bankrupt and should withdraw entirely from the Middle East after losing conventional deterrence.