By Luis Manuel Arce Isaac
March 6, 2026

The author, born in 1941, is a self-taught journalist now living in Cuba who worked in construction until 1960. He participated in the early Cuban revolutionary government, including as a spokesperson for Che Guevara when Che was Minister of Industries. He reported extensively from Vietnam during the war against U.S. imperialism, interviewing revolutionary leaders like Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, and continued working in journalism through 2025.

This article, first published March 2, 2026, analyzes the early days of the regional war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran and contains an appeal to the relatives of the growing number of U.S. troops deployed to West Asia. The translation is by Walter Lippmann, who publishes Cuba News.

The relatives of U.S. soldiers participating in the brutal and illegal war against Iran, and those who have children stationed at Pentagon military bases in the Middle East, should overcome the nervousness and fear instilled in them by the warmongering of Donald Trump and his secretaries of War, Pete Hegseth, and State, Marco Rubio, and devote themselves to finding out — and denouncing — the situation of their boys and the fallacy of minimizing the casualties suffered.

Why should they do so immediately? Because, contrary to the simplest logic, it is absolutely impossible that in a war of the magnitude of the one unfolding in Iran, the United States has had only six deaths and six wounded, as claimed by the Pentagon and Trump himself.

The lie is so scandalous and so easily refutable that 24 hours after uttering it, Trump admits that there may be casualties, without specifying the number so as not to cause alarm, but that it is worth sacrificing lives for the benefit of the world. Such a conclusion is frightening.

The reality is that Trump and his minions fear that the people of the U.S. will learn how many of their children have already died in the first stage of the aggression, and how many more there will be if it continues or is prolonged beyond the estimated time.

Trump wrong last June

Trump himself ended the aggression of June 13, 2025, after 12 days, not because he is a pacifist or a good person, but because he never expected such a strong reaction from the Iranians. He was wrong then, and now he is wrong again.

He and his secretaries are frightened by the fact that more than 70% of the U.S. population — beyond party militancy and their view of Islamic government — is against and rejects what Trump and his officials are doing on their own authority, without consulting Congress or anyone else, regardless of the will of the people who elected them.

There are already voices — even among the conservative Republican elite — saying that Iran is Trump’s most extreme justification for declaring a new state of emergency in order to prevent the November midterm elections, which he senses he will lose, or to prevent a vote for impeachment that would dethrone him from passing in both [Congressional] houses before that date, as there is noticeable dislike for him within his party and he is no longer tolerated in the Oval Office of the White House.

The grandiose and misleading military reports published by the United States Central Command are rejected by people who, even without data in hand, sense that U.S. casualties have been overwhelming and that, if known, the emotional anguish of the families will be felt throughout the Trump administration.

The media teams at the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House  are working hard to prevent the real figures from coming out, which the Iranians and correspondents in the various countries affected in one way or another by the conflict are reporting and putting at more than 270 U.S. troops dead and wounded in the first 48 hours of fighting.

This is a logical figure, which may even be on the low side, judging by the firepower deployed by the Iranians, particularly their rockets, and the damage to ships and aircraft carriers, which the U.S. Navy has concealed in its reports, especially the damage inflicted by the bombing of numerous military bases in the area.

Iranian radio (IRIB) reported that among the targets that were significantly impacted by Islamic rocket fire were the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, the Al Udeid air bases in Qatar, Al Salem in Kuwait and Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, all with large garrisons of soldiers, as well as military targets in Israel. This report was corroborated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and documented by the foreign press.

The most frightening thing for Trump is the vulnerability of his army due to the Pentagon’s expansionist military deployment in the area, which makes it difficult for him to protect such a dispersed force.

Thus, in reality, the war is not limited to Iran, Israel and the waters of the Gulf but includes all countries in the area where there is a U.S. military presence, all within range of Iranian missiles and aircraft.

Consequently, Bahrain — home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet covering the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean — can be considered a war zone. Qatar, home to the Al Udeid air base, is also the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command. Kuwait is also a camp for the central army.

In addition, the United Arab Emirates is home to Al Dhafra Air Base, south of the capital Abu Dhabi, a nerve center of the U.S. Air Force, and the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai is the largest anchorage of the U.S. Navy in the Levant [area of West Asia], which regularly hosts aircraft carriers and other U.S. ships.

In Iraq, the U.S. maintains a presence at the Ain Al Asad Air Base in the western province of Anbar, which provides support for NATO missions and was attacked with rockets by Iran in 2020. There are also more than 2,400 U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, providing air defense and anti-missile capabilities and supporting the operation of U.S. military aircraft. And there are also U.S. military bases in Jordan.

Why Iran targeted U.S. bases

This overview explains why the Iranians launched rockets at these facilities, as a warning that a military counteroffensive could be very costly for the United States and bring even more grief to families in that country who have nothing to do with the personal ambitions of a ruthless and irresponsible president who is not interested in the suffering of his own compatriots.

A few hours ago, instead of easing tensions and reassuring his people, Trump has just made a new statement in which he assures that joint military operations with the Zionists of Israel against Iran will continue until all objectives are achieved or until the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Army lay down their arms — even though he knows that this will not happen — and warned them that, otherwise, they will face certain death. He admitted, however, that the U.S. will also suffer casualties.

Why should families in the U.S. sacrifice the lives of their children in the unjust cause of conquering a territory tens of thousands of miles away to obtain ill-gotten oil and attempt to maintain military control to gain respect? \

The families of the soldiers, many of whom have already died in this cowardly adventure, and others who will die in the coming hours, or have already died without being told the painful truth, have an obligation and a duty to hold Trump and the executioners who follow his satanic game to account.