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A War Game to Remember

In a 2002 war game simulating an invasion of Iran, a US naval task force was sunk in minutes, so commanders changed the rules to win. Which one has Trump seen?

Jeff Stein's avatar
Jeff Stein
Mar 24, 2026
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Iran’s IRGC attacks a vessel in a military drill in the Strait of Hormuz in 2015. A 2002 US war game showed the Iranians could sink a US naval fleet in minutes. (FARS News/Hamed Jafarnejad)

A wise editor once quipped to me that one definition of news is stuff that people have forgotten.

So it might come as news to President Trump and Pete Hegseth, the so-called Secretary of War, that the Pentagon carried out war games simulating an attack on Iran years ago and it didn’t go so well. In fact, it was a disaster.

Maybe Trump and Hegseth haven’t forgotten them. Maybe they’ve never known, or been briefed.

Whatever, with the 82nd Airborne’s Immediate Response Force kitting up to join the 31st Marine Expedition Unit for what looks like an invasion of Iran’s coastal islands, or maybe more, there’s not a minute to spare for them to dig up the report.

Lucky for them, there’s not much digging to do.

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