j_hungary
Professional
This shows us 3 things.And this part of your post is so important to study and understand - for those willing to look at this objectively.
1.) The US Navy knows where the Iranian warship is (probably not just this one), they don't just sink it because by chance the sub running into it.
2.) They have a ready asset to carry out the strike outside their initial AO, which either means this is a targeted strike (which makes no sense as this is a Frigate outside of the initial AO) or they are expanding their AO, which suggests planning
3.) 1 and 2 put together means the US was already planning to escalate, probably to see what Iranian response is, I don't think this shows a characteristic of a short-term strike; this is more of a sustained operation. Because you don't expand your AO like this if this is going to be over in a week or 2. We are probably looking at month(s)-long medium campaign, well, either that or the US Navy really does have nothing better to do than this.







