OT Things are getting hairy in the Middle East

[Heffe3737]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Nothing the Saudis have done militarily in the last three decades has impressed me much. They can't defeat rebels in the region's poorest country and they couldn't stop said from temporarily knocking out half of the world's oil production.

The Iranians, on the other hand, have been punking the Saudis at every turn and, although it's been a while, the Iranians have operational experience at air warfare. I'm not saying predicting an Iranian victory, but I think that they'd give the vastly better equipped Saudis a run for their [oil] money in any aerial clash over the Gulf, perhaps even getting the better of them.

Agreed on all points. MBS might be the great millenial hope of the Saudis at the moment, but his foreign policy decisions have left quite a bit to be desired. And Soleimani has shown that he's more than capable on the Iranian side. Hopefully it doesn't end up escalating, but the next couple of years should prove interesting (meant in the apocryphal Chinese curse context of "interesting").