If anyone has watched The Simpsons on a recurring basis, the idea that dolphins have a plot to take over the world doesn’t seem absolutely far-fetched. It’s fiction, of course, and more so in a humor series that trivializes anything to the extreme. But even this scene of the dolphins marching in formation along the shores of Springfield – the town of the most famous family in the United States – seems less surreal than the one in use these aquatic mammals as military weapons.
However, the idea of “kamikaze dolphins” has come to the fore in conversations about how to address war in iran unleashed on February 28 by the US and Israel. As published by the American newspaper The Wall Street Journalthe Islamic Republic would be evaluating the possibility of attach explosives to these animals to detonate them when passing by those vessels that want cross the Strait of Hormuz blocked by both Iran and the United States.
The idea has already transcended the waters of the Sea of Oman to be transferred to the official accounts of the Persian country thanks to artificial intelligence. Videos have even begun to be disseminated to show the strategic power that the “kamikaze dolphins” would have to unbalance the conflict.
And like everything that has been happening since the hostilities began – to which has been added a fierce battle of memes and AI montages on social networks –, far from discrediting the use of these mammals as weapons, the US Administration has entered the fray. “I cannot confirm or deny if we have kamikaze dolphinsbut I can confirm that they do not have them,” said the US Secretary of War on Tuesday, Pete Hegsethafter being asked about this possibility at a press conference at the Pentagon.
But Hegseth is not the only top American commander to be approached on this issue. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Cainealso spoke out about the alleged use of these mammals and, with greater caution, denied having “heard of this matter of kamikaze dolphins.” “It’s something like sharks with laser beams“, he stressed.
Marine Mammal Program
However, the Secretary of War did not seem surprised by this possibility. And recent history shows that, as impossible as “kamikaze dolphins” may seem, these They were already a reality. Beyond the Iranian reports that were echoed at the end of April The Wall Street Journaland the statement of several officials according to which Tehran “could use unprecedented weapons (…) including everything from submarines to mine-carrying dolphins,” Iran is not the only one that has made use of these mammals.
As early as 1963, the Pentagon trained its own army of dolphins and sea lions inside the US Navy Marine Mammal Program. An initiative that was carried out during wars such as Vietnam, but that did not come to light until the 90s. In fact, the last time they were active was during the first stages of the Iraq war, when they were deployed to protect aircraft carriers and warships in the region.
Subscribe to continue reading
