David Des Roches is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and a senior international affairs fellow at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. He is an associate professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.

1. The War in the Persian Gulf
The views expressed are solely those of the author
and do not represent official US Government policy.
Professor DB Des Roches
david.desroches@ndu.edu
www.facebook.com/dbdesroches
@DBDesRoches
28 August 2019

2. • Geography
• US Culture
• History
• Strategy
• The Iranian Way of War
2

3. GEOGRAPHY
3

4. 4

5. Oil and Gas

6. 6

7. 7

8. US FOREIGN POLICY
8

9. Isolationism
9

10. Idealism
10

11. Realism
11

12. 12

13. HISTORY
13

14. 14

15. 15

16. 16

17. US Bases in the Gulf
17

18. STRATEGERY
18

19. How Does Iran Fight?
DISRUPTION not
Dominance
Proxy Attacks
Disrupt Shipping
Take Hostages
19

20. The Spectrum of Hybrid Warfare
20

21. 21

22. Press and Media
22

23. Cyber
23

24. Missiles
24

25. 25

26. 26

27. Disruption at Sea
27

28. Disruption at Sea
28

29. 29

30. Nuclear Theory
30

31. Proxies: Qassem Soleimani
IRGC Quds Brigade
31

32. Iranian Bases
32

33. Lebanese Proxies
33

34. Iraqi Proxies
34

35. Win the War or Win the
Peace?

36. What is Trump’s Strategy?
• NOT transformative,
sweeping
• NOT nation building
• Limit American
presence abroad
• Push regional
partners to solve
regional problems
• Keep his word and
contrast w/ Obama on
“red lines”

37. Professor DB Des Roches
david.desroches@ndu.edu
www.facebook.com/dbdesroches
@DBDesRoches
28 August 2019
QUESTIONS???
37

38. 38

39. 39

40. 40

41. Iranian Deaths in Syria
41

42. 42

43. 43

44. 44

45. 45

46. 46

47. Shark 33
47

48. Afghan Proxies
48

49. Criticisms of the Iran Deal
• False Dilemma
• Free Hand for Meddling
• Free Hand for Hizbullah / Asa’ad
• No Human Rights
• Too Many Concessions?
• “Snapback” a reality?
• Us: Transformational Them: Transactional
49

50. 50

51. 51

52. RANGE 900+ KM 559+ MILES
PAYLOAD 746 KG 1,645 LBS
LENGTH 11.5 M 37.7 FT
DIAMETER 0.88 M 2.89 FT
PROPELLANT TYPE LIQUID
Picture reportedly of 4 Nov Qiam Launch
Qiam Short Range Ballistic Missile
VICINITY OF MISSILE IMPACT
900 KM RANGE FROM MAIN BORDER
22JUL
04NO V

53. 53

54. Field weld. The quality of the welding makes it clear this
was not welded in a production facility.
Typical factory machine weld
The size of this missile would make it
difficult to transport as a complete unit
without being detected. These welds
likely represent an effort to disassemble for
undetected delivery and then reassemble in
the field for operations.

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