Iranian-American War (American Technocracy)

The Iranian-American War, otherwise known as The First West Asia League War, The Great War of the Middle East, The Fourth Gulf War, and in Iran as The Great Patriotic War, was a global conflict waged between November 26, 2024 to December 18th, 2026. During the conflict, some nine-hundred and fifty thousand people were killed -- most of them civilians. The war began when the Iranians launched a joint air and naval attack on the United States Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf, decimating it. The Iranians, only having a few outdated planes and men on speed boats with RPGs, destroyed the fifth fleet -- thus preventing a speedy American response. 
Iran (in collaboration with Shia proxies in Bahrain) proceeded to invade and overthrow the Bahraini royal family, replacing it with the pro-Iranian Islamic Emirate of Bahrain, before making a daring advance across the King Fahd Causeway into Saudi Arabia where they launched an assault on the Saudi City of Khobar. At this point the US and their allies launched a counterattack, stopping the assault on advancing deep into Bahrain. While the US and its allies were busy fighting Iranian proxies in Bahrain, Iran launched another amphibious assault on Khobar taking the city -- giving the US another humiliating defeat. The British Army in particular was completely destroyed during the Battle of Khobar, forcing them to withdraw from the war and was a factor in the Collapse of the United Kingdom. After the spectacular victory at Khobar, Iran and its proxies continued to advance into Saudi Arabia, defeating the US and its allies at Dammam and Qatif. Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Hezbollah opened a front in the West against Israel and US naval forces stationed in the Mediterranean Sea -- taking the Galilee and the Golan Heights from Israel. Iran then invaded and occupied the UAE, which allowed them to close the Strait of Hormuz — shutting down the world’s economy. Iran became the first country to defeat the US handily in more than one battle.
After this, the Iranians took a defensive stance and allowed its proxies such as Hezbollah, Shiite militias in Iraq, the Houthis of Yemen, and the Islamic Emirate of Bahrain to do most of the fighting while the Iranians used their large arsenal of missiles to relentlessly bomb American/NATO/Arab position in order to prevent any effective counterattack -- dragging the war into a stalemate, which the Iranians planned for and wanted as they knew such conditions would alienate the Western public from the war. The Iranians launched missiles at Israeli and Saudi cities, while the US bombed Iranian cities — thousands of civilians were killed on both sides. The US and its allies attempted to launch a joint air and naval invasion of Iran, leading to the Battle of the Persian Gulf — the war’s largest and bloodiest battle — hoping to capitalize on what they perceived as an exhausted Axis of Resistance. The US and its allies were once again defeated.
After two years of fighting, China (in solidarity with their Iranian allies) threatened to expel all American factories and businesses from China and drop the US dollar if they did not agree to a ceasefire -- the Americans were forced to accept the ceasefire and withdraw from the Middle East entirely.
The war is considered to be the greatest military upset of the 21st Century, and marked the decline of the United States as a superpower. It exposed systemic issues within both the US military, and its political system, causing president Donald Trump's approval ratings to decline and leading to a nationwide protest movement that forced him to resign. These tensions lead to the Second American Civil War. 
== Background ==
See: Sanctions against Iran, Iran-United States relations after 1979, Nuclear program of Iran, 2019-20 Persian Gulf crisis, 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Iran, 
== Timeline ==
September 2024: The US and Israel launch a massive air raid on the city of Tehran, Iran. The US hopes to decapitate the Iranian regime. 50 civilians are killed. There is international condemnation. The Iranian Supreme Leader and President, who had received intel on the coming attack, both retreated to their bunkers. Iran’s Supreme Leader says that the US has “made a grave and unfortunate error” and vows that there will be retaliation. The seeds for Operation Divine Vengeance are being planted. Iranians, even those who once hated the Islamic Republic, are outraged by the US actions and begin calling for war.
October 2024: Iran begins preparing to go to war with the US. It institutes a draft. Iranian generals come up with a plan to destroy US ships and bases in the Persian Gulf, invade Bahrain and install a proxy government, and invade and occupy the eastern half of Saudi Arabia and the UAE — before switching to asymmetric tactics, allowing the US to counterattack and attempt to liberate occupied areas in order to to bog the US down in costly urban guerrilla warfare. It begins coordinating with the Axis of Resistance, its network of proxies throughout the Middle East and North Africa, on what to do. The White House receives intel on a coming Iranian attack, but it disregards the intel — believing that the Iranians didn’t have the capability or the audacity to carry out such an attack.
November 2024: The US elections take place, Donald Trump is victorious. The elections are violent, divisive, and led by heated rhetoric. Operation Divine Vengeance has reached its final stages of planning, and the Iranians plan to attack in Thanksgiving Day — a major holiday in the US — hoping to catch the US off guard and establish an early strategic advantage. In Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day, Iran launches an all-out assault on US Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf. With the use of missiles, speed boats, and suicide drones, The US Navy Fifth Fleet is destroyed, and the Iranians launch an amphibious invasion on Bahrain: Overthrowing the Khalifa Dynasty and replacing them with the Islamic Emirate of Bahrain. The Iranians are welcomed as liberators by the predominantly-Shiite Bahrainis, who had been marginalized by the Sunni Khalifa family for decades. 
The Islamic Republic of Iran declares “total war” on the United States, vowing that it’ll accept nothing less than “the complete and unconditional liquidation of the American military presence in the Middle East and Persian Gulf.” The US is divided on what the response should be, while many troops were killed a half of Americans are weary of war and blame the government for having troops stationed there in the first place, while the other half support the war.
December 2024: The Former King of Bahrain is executed by the Islamic Emirate of Bahrain. Iranian forces continue to advance across the King Fahd Causeway. US President Joe Biden orders a counterattack, declaring war on Iran. However, with most of its bases in the Middle East destroyed, this counterattack took days to occur. NATO invokes Article 5, and in response Iran activates its network of proxies all across the world, leading to deadly terrorist attacks in pro-NATO countries. Terrorist attacks in London and Paris. The US tries to build an international coalition against Iran, but outside of its traditional NATO allies, Israel, and the GCC countries it does not have much support from the rest of the world. The UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting, all countries except for China and Russia, vote to condemn Iran's actions. The war has escalated to dangerous levels. The war between Hamas and Israel is also going on in the backdrop, Israel has taken effective control of the Gaza Strip while Hamas continues a low-level insurgency. 
Iran receives a lot of support from the Muslim World. Turkey, a NATO country, refuses to take part in a war against another Muslim country, threatens to withdraw from NATO in protest, and orders that the US withdraw all of its bases from Turkey. Which made matters even more complicated for the United States. The US refused to remove its bases, and threatened Turkey with sanctions if it does not participate in the war effort. Refugees from Gaza begin flooding into Turkey, worsening relations between Turkey and Israel. Turkey demands that Israel end its "genocidal massacre" in Gaza. Turkey also accuses Israel and the United States of using the Palestinian refugees to pressure Turkey. 
NATO forces and a united Arab army known as the United Arab Command led by Saudi Arabia (consisting of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, and Sudan) mounted a counterattack, pushing Iran and the Islamic Emirate of Bahrain back onto the main island. Qatar, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq are the only Arab countries who refuse to participate in the war against Iran. At this point, the Iranians called for the help of the Taliban who sent troops into Bahrain, they also called for the intervention of the Houthis and its Shia proxies in Iraq. The Iranians and their allies fought the US and their allies in brutal urban guerrilla warfare, thousands of civilians are killed in a matter of days. The Iranians demonstrated their missile and drone power, striking American, British, and French military bases and positions with precise but extremely cheap suicide drones and missiles. The US began responding with cruise missiles of its own, not willing to risk sending planes past Iran's anti-air systems. The US targeted Iranian cities however, killing thousands of civilians. 
January 2025: In the Eastern Mediterranean, things began to deteriorate rapidly. Israel's war in Gaza has past its first year, with little progress made on either side. Thousands of refugees flood into Turkey and other neighboring countries. Turkey secretly begins arming and training Palestinian refugees, and sending them back to Gaza and the West Bank to destabilize Israel. The border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah was also escalating, as Hezbollah began deploying its ballistic missile arsenal, striking the Port of Haifa and killing 65 people. In retaliation, on January 5th, Israel gave Hezbollah 48 hours to withdraw from its positions at Israeli-Lebanese border and end its shelling, or face an Israeli invasion. Turkey threatens Israel, saying that it would not tolerate an invasion of Lebanon, and that they do not care if that means going to war with their own NATO ally the United States. Hezbollah refused to stop, saying that hostilities will end on the Lebanese border when hostilities end in Gaza. 
Israel, France, Germany, and the US invade Lebanon on the morning of January 7th. Iranian forces stationed in Syria and Turkey intervene on behalf of Lebanon -- turning the war between Iran and the US into a regional war. On January 8th, Syria alongside other pro-Iranian militias operating in Syria invade the Golan Heights in order to relieve pressure from its allies in the North. Turkey officially announced that they were no longer a part of NATO, and on January 9th, Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, and Turkey sign a mutual defense treaty called The West Asia League. 
On the eastern front, the US and its allies are unable to retake Bahrain. On January 12th, 20,000 Iranian frogmen launched an assault on the main forward operations base in Khobar. A battle occurs between Iran and the British Army, and Iran defeated the British Army. 
Category:American Technocracy