With the US military heavily deployed on the border and Iran facing tit-for-tat, a war in the Middle East is imminent?

China News Service, November 9 (Reporter Diao Wei) Recently, a US military RC-135U "Combat Sentinel" reconnaissance aircraft flew across the Atlantic and landed at Mildenhall Air Force Base in the United Kingdom. This move further aggravated the outside world's concerns that "the United States will launch a new round of large-scale attacks on Iran."

RC-135U reconnaissance aircraft. Picture/Malaysia’s “Asian Defense and Security” website

Malaysia's "Asian Defense Security" website pointed out that Mildenhall Base is an important transit point to support U.S. military operations in the Middle East. For example, in June 2025, U.S. military aircraft that attacked Iran's nuclear facilities took off from here.

Foreign media also said that although the US military has hundreds of reconnaissance aircraft in active service, most of them are used to perform tactical missions. However, there are only two RC-135Us, which are regarded as "scarce assets" and are responsible for collecting strategic intelligence.

According to the U.S. Air Force's "Air and Space Power Magazine", the RC-135U is equipped with a large number of antenna arrays, sensors and sophisticated analysis equipment, which can remotely intercept the opponent's radar signals and air defense system electronic data.

By detecting and analyzing the operating characteristics of other countries' warning radars and the deployment of air defense firepower, once a war breaks out, the US military can take corresponding evasive countermeasures or suppressive strikes based on this information.

Special observer Wang Liyu told China News Service that with the cooperation of aerial tankers, the RC-135U can continuously cruise for 24 hours, and the electrical reconnaissance information it obtains will be sent to core US decision-makers in the White House and Pentagon.

"The RC-135U does not take action easily, and will often only go into action against important opponents or when a war is imminent." According to Wang Liyu, in August 2024, an RC-135U flew across half of Europe and conducted a 6-hour reconnaissance of Russia's western border.

According to Al Jazeera, it is expected that by the end of November, with the three aircraft carrier strike groups of the "Roosevelt", "Bush" and "Washington" in place, the U.S. military in the Middle East will have assembled approximately 50,000 troops.

Foreign media said that this may be the largest deployment of U.S. maritime power in the region since the 2003 Iraq War.

In this regard, Wang Liyu believes that such a large-scale war by the US military is not only a deterrent, but also a helpless move.

He said, "This year, the United States and Iran have had repeated confrontations. Not only has the United States failed to make Iran surrender, but it has also suffered losses in its own troops."

The Associated Press revealed that at least 26 U.S. military bases in the Middle East were attacked, hundreds of buildings and important facilities were destroyed, and billions of dollars were lost.

"The heavy damage to so many bases has greatly weakened the U.S. military's ability to rely on the former to wage war, forcing it to shift from land to sea in an attempt to deal with Iran by sending additional naval forces." Wang Liyu said.

In the face of external military threats, Iran has not shown any weakness. While stepping up its defense preparations, Iran has successively released tough signals.

On November 3, local time, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards released a video showing an "underground missile city" it was building along the Strait of Hormuz.

The picture shows that a large number of anti-ship missile launch vehicles are parked in deep and tortuous reinforced tunnels, ready to enter ground positions to attack invading enemies at any time.

It is worth noting that the appearance of these missile trucks is no different from ordinary civilian box trucks, but as long as the roof is opened and a little preparation is made, they can be launched and quickly transferred in a very short time.

On the same day, the Iranian military also released an image captured by an infrared camera, saying it was a combat image of its air defense forces shooting down a US military MQ-9 "Reaper" drone over the Strait of Hormuz recently.

According to Iranian media statistics, this is the 55th MQ-9 that the country has shot. In the southern part of Qeshm Island, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards "used electronic warfare technology" and seized two more US-made MQM-170 reconnaissance drones. (over)