U.S. Military Just Did Something HUGE to Open Straits of Hormuz

It's March 18th, 2026, day 19 of Operation Epic Fury, and wow, the US just dropped multiple 5,000 pound deep penetrator munitions. Those are GBU-72 Beasts on hardened Iranian missile sites right near the Straits of Hormuz. We're gonna be covering that and a lot more today.

I'm here in DC doing some traveling out on the road, doing a little bit with Joby Aerospace. They're a company building electric vertical and takeoff landing aircraft. Incredibly cool, but more on them a little bit later. Just yesterday, CENTCOM confirmed that precision strikes

with those JV-72s took out anti-ship cruise missiles that were threatening ships and targeting commercial shipping. So US CENTCOM is keeping that vital checkpoint open as much as they possibly can for US and Western ships because Iran has said it's totally open for anyone who's supplied Iran with military equipment or Iran just sees as someone that they

might be able to trust which right now looks like India, China, potentially some flows going to Russia and also Turkey. Even though Iran launched two or more ballistic missiles at Turkey, they're like, yeah, here's some oil to make up for those little pesky ballistic missiles. Sorry about that. But this builds on the massive blow that Israel just did yesterday with Ali Larajani, that's Iran's de facto leader and Supreme National Security Council chief, was taken out. Plus, Basij commander Golamarza Salamani in overnight strikes in Tehran.

The regime's command structure right now in Iran is completely on the ropes. They're cracking and this leadership vacuum is widening while American air power is showing that it's focused on the Straits of Hormuz. And if you've heard me talk about it, this is the last domino in my opinion for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regime. If they're able to threaten the Straits of Hormuz, threaten shipping, that's their little ace in the hole where then they feel like they're still in control.

But once that domino comes down and they're not able to threaten the Straits of Hormuz anymore, the regime fractures and cracks are gonna widen even more. I mean, at this point, does anyone really know who's in charge?

Does Iran really know who's in charge? This is when the internal fracture can really start to crack down any last remaining Hardliners in the top leadership structure and who knows this could lead to some sort of a revolution Where at some point those top-level members of the IRGC are like, yeah We kind of see the writing on the wall the life expectancy for a new ayatollah or a commander of the besiege or IRGC

Isn't very long right now, if you haven't noticed. But right now, these GBU-72 strikes, 5,000 pound bombs, likely, and here's something that I'm a little bit excited about, likely being dropped off of F-15E Strike Eagles. This is a weapon that I weaponiered constantly. It's a go-to for the F-15E when it comes to those medium level bunkers and going through and striking through concrete, earth, or whatever else,

whatever little things that Iran has decided to put over top of these ballistic missile bunkers. And these missiles are focused on ships. So it's very interesting because we've seen Iran load these anti-ship missiles onto actual boats themselves,

but this looks like they're hitting hardened bunkers right in that little chunk of space in the Straits of Hormuz. And this is huge for freedom of navigation and reassuring confidence in the different ships that are gonna go through the Straits of Hormuz

to get the oil, deliver it, and again, you have to reassure confidence right now at this point. We've got the MEU, the 2500 man strong MEU Marine Expeditionary Unit for you acronym lovers that's on its way and that might be preparing the battlefield for those Marines. The actual strikes coming down from those GU-72s could just be getting this area of land ready for the Marines not necessarily to put boots on the ground there, but to do what they do and operate

amphibiously through that entire chunk of waterway. But this would be huge if these GU-72s are now starting the ripple effect of taking down any hard power that Iran still has left. I mean, taking down those ballistic ship missiles is obviously huge, that's massive, but we still have to think about the drones

that could be in the area to threaten ships and those UUVs, those underwater unmanned vehicles, and likely striking down those UUVs is gonna be the specialty of the MEU once it gets into town. Basically, it's like daddy's home,

the MEU's walking in, gonna just take care of those UUVs, that's the goal, but stick around because we're gonna dive into how these GBU-72s show the new US strategy with the Straits of Hormuz. Let's dive to X right now for some more breaking news. So this is the actual post that we're focused on today

from CENTCOM. It happened yesterday But about 12 hours ago from the time of this video being produced It says hours ago US forces successfully employed multiple Not just one when one GBU-72 isn't enough to do multiple Multiple 5,000 pounders are way more of a crowd pleaser than just one They employed those 5,000 pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iranians coast, along

Iran's coast near the Straits of Hormuz. The Iranian anti-ship cruise missile in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait and it shows us that chunk, that swath of space right there, that 21 mile wide crucial waterway is likely where those missiles were. Now we don't know for sure if this is where the missiles were or if this is what they

were threatening because again there could be different missile sites throughout Iran itself two and a half times the size of Texas where those missiles could actually be but this is the area of concern. This is what needs to be locked down. And then Iran is vowing revenge for Larijani they're basically saying they're gonna do you know all these massive things they have launched a few more missiles that's kind of one of their biggest things they have

hit some ports and some of their Gulf partners so again Iran isn't a slouch and they still have some of this potential to execute proxy type warfare. But let's get back to this massive strike. The US military executed the high-precision strikes on those fortified Iranian missile positions that are hugging likely along the coastline right there in the Straits of Hormuz. So those penetrator bombs, 5,000 pound class bombs, GBU-72 and they're designed

to do exactly what they just did. Smash through hardened bunkers. F-15E Strike Eagles are prime delivery platforms launching from forward bases. Right now, multiple F-15E squadrons in the area, and they have extremely highly proven capability

with this munition exactly. Even though the B-1 can carry this as well, B-2 Spirits could be handling it, also B52s, but likely just from the precision strikes and how often the F-15Es do this, that's why I think it's probably top of the chart would be F-15Es going in and doing this. If you're doing it during the daytime as well, you might want wanna have F-15Es just for threat reaction. A lot of the bombers are typically going to operate

at night. So again, F-15Es, two of them rolling in, the weapon systems operator in the back would be just kind of sitting there, ready to go, just chilling, and then they would see the target come into view.

They would see whatever was over top of that bunker come into view. They would lock onto it with their sniper targeting pod and just dial right into the center mass of it and then right through that center mass of that bunker would likely be the strike there. The mission here though, what's the whole goal?

We've been talking about it for a while. Reassure freedom of navigation, neutralize anti-ship missiles that are endangering tankers and ensure the strait doesn't get choked and then a lot more strategy. We'll get to that in a second in the 40 chest section. But then this slams directly into Iran's attempts to disrupt global oil transit. Again their last domino. Speaking of Iran, they're

still launching missiles and drones just way less. They've got a couple confirmed hits on cargo vessels causing fires and damages, plus attacks on US allied sites in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq. The rhetoric stays very fiery, obviously. And then this video, this is a video of a drone

said to be from Iran being shot down by a C-RAM at the US embassy in Baghdad. Just incredible work with this C-RAM, seeing this thing being crushed. But again, Iran is trying to just kind of cause pain and chaos and do these one-offs, send these drones in not only to Iraq but also Saudi Arabia, UAE as well. And the rhetoric is obviously a little fiery. Imagine that. There are officials in Iran who's ever in charge

at this point. I mean, I don't know, is it essentially like the water boy who was like bringing water to the regime meetings? He was like pouring the water and then all of a sudden they're like, hey, yeah, put down that water.

Come on in, you're now in charge of everything. You're basically the last one left. But the numbers don't lie. The scoreboard doesn't lie. A 5,000 pound deep penetrator cratering in their missile sites, each one punching in deep into hardened threats that are threatening the Straits of Formos. And now, less of a bargaining chip to do that. The Strait of Formos, 20% of the world's oil, will likely, in my opinion, be being prepped right now for the arrival of the MEU, the Marine Expeditionary Unit,

with President Trump trying to push allies to try to help secure the strait. They didn't exactly step in to come help, but at this point it looks like American Resolve is stepping up to make up for that. This screams US superiority in the maritime environment,

and then the amphibious Marines coming in, that screams superiority to me. In the aerospace environment, above the straights of four moves with F-35s, that can do vertical takeoffs and landings right there, being right next to it if they want to.

Now that these anti-ship missiles are being taken out, what could that being prepped for? Well, now you can get that MEU closer if you take down all the big hard threats that could actually do damage to a ship and then you just have anti-drone technology you have counter-drone systems on that actual ship itself with the Marines now they

can get in close and personal who knows maybe they'll go in and secure different areas right around the Straits of Hormuz. But the F-15E itself can get up to Mach 2 a combat radius of about 700 miles. This lets it loiter over the battlefield for hours. 23,000 pounds of ordnance across 15 different hardpoints. On top of the headlines, GBU-72 5,000 pound bunker busters that can punch through those

Iranian coastal sites. This jet routinely carries a full delicious menu of just killer weapons. GBU-31, 2,000 pound JDAMs for smart bomb purposes. GPS guided bombs is the name of the game for the actual jet itself. And then laser guided bombs like the GBU-12 or the GBU-24. Also AGM-158 standoff missiles, even though you don't need those now.

Small diameter bombs to minimize collateral damage. Plus it's loaded out with AIM-120s, AMRAAMs, AIM-9s for self-defense or going in and striking down any drones that Iran could send up. But APKWS rockets can also be carried on the F-15E, so way more efficient than striking down drones

with any type of AMRAAM. Let's move to the 4D chess strategic analysis section. This is pure mastery of 4D chess when it comes to layer dominance that's focused on opening up the Straits of Hormuz. So crushing the leadership while simultaneously opening the Straits of Hormuz more,

or at least increasing confidence and pushing everything in that direction, there's still gonna be a few things to be done before it'll be fully open but with the Marines headed that way this is crushing any of the command structure that thinks the Straits of Hormuz is their last stand and they'll be able to hold it for as long as they want. This is

essentially a hard military asymmetric play using some of Iran's tactics against itself while striking down its leadership opening up theits, and allowing commercial tankers to hopefully come through here in the next few days or next few weeks without being targeted. I would expect that it's not really going to fully open for another week or more. That MEU needs to get there. Those Marines need to get there and help assure freedom of navigation at this point and try to focus on reassuring that confidence

in the different oil tankers. Once that happens, I think we'll see more fracture in the IRGC. The IRGC is gonna continue these asymmetric jabs. So it looks to me like it's getting smaller and smaller and smaller and crushing their leadership,

starts to, in my opinion, increase the risk of fractures in that regime itself. But Hormuz, though, that to me remains the key place for the U.S. strategy. Keep energy flowing, strip Iran's leverage without a ground invasion. Smart, decisive positioning seems to be the goal right now. Let's move to a hypothetical scenario. Let's say things surge a little more. Iran has a little more capability than what we thought with their drones and UUVs and

potentially some more ballistic missiles. Well at that point F-15Es, B1s and B2s would likely roll in with those GBU-72 bunker busters and take out anything in that area. I'm not saying carpet bombing. Carpet bombing is essentially just bombing an entire chunk of earth, kind of like the B-52 does, this would be likely more focused and more targeted, and this would set the stage perfectly for the Marine Expeditionary Unit.

So we might see this start to play out as those Marines are coming in hot, baby. They're coming in hot right now, and they're bringing exactly what's needed to finally pry open that Straits of Formos and pry it wide open

with amphibious assault forces that can seize shoreline positions that they want to, reconnaissance team that can hunt down hidden threats, combat engineers equipped with anti-mining drones to sweep and clear Iranian sea mines from critical shipping lanes and they can do it fast. And maybe backing them up with the Lamprey, that unmanned vehicle that can go underneath the surface and just leech on to different boats. It can do ISR, intelligent surveillance or reconnaissance.

It can launch drones. It can launch torpedoes. Highly capable. So just the weird technology like that. Kind of like what 50 Cent just posted on his Instagram. He said Trump got us, bring out the new stuff. So this electronic bird, probably an assassin bird is what this thing is that the US military has at this point. So the version of that that's underneath the sea, taking it to any threats that the IRGC might send out.

So there you go guys, US just hammered Iranian missile threats near Hormuz, heavy penetrator weapons, ensuring the strait stays open. The infrastructure is being struck on the Straits of Hormuz for Iran and Iran's leadership is reeling losing you know their latest person who is the de facto leader and now we have no real clue who's actually in charge. So what do we see from here? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Do we see more leadership hits? More of a focus on the straights to four moves? When is the straights to four moves fully open? Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below. We'd love to hear what you think. Go ahead and follow me on Instagram. I'm posting there pretty much every day. And then click the link in the description, join the Max Ready Room and I do priority replies to members of the live and you get access to all the members only videos so definitely click that link and join the channel and then go and watch this next video that pops up right here see you on this next video this is Ryan also known

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