US Weighs Phone Ban For Troops In Middle-East As Iran Conflict Raises Security Fears: Reports

The top US commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos shared online can help Iran target American bases, and sources told Reuters some deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing "reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops," according to a Reuters report.

"The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries," Cooper wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

In Jordan, which has been a frequent target of Iranian strikes, some troops have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. A third source said such a move was being considered in the region due to operational security concerns but did not present the confiscation as a certainty.

Concerns Over Social Media Footage

In a video posted online this month, a US service member recorded a video as soldiers ran for shelter during a deadly Iranian attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17. Cooper appeared to reference the footage in his letter, saying it had been recorded on Meta smart glasses with a built-in camera, Reuters reported.

"Video captured from a service member's Meta glasses was posted on Instagram showing where and how the individual had evacuated to a bunker during an Iranian missile and drone attack," Cooper wrote.

Iran would normally have a tough time determining the success or failure of its strikes, were it not for such accounts, Cooper said, thanks to the US military's electronic jamming or other tactics used in war zones.

"Iran knows the weapons were fired; however, their forces do not know if they missed by 50 meters, hit an empty tarmac, or successfully struck a crowded facility," he wrote. "Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by news outlets are essentially performing Iran's Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) for them, free of charge," Cooper said.

Deadly Conflict And Security Concerns

Some 18 US troops have died in the conflict with Iran that started on February 28 and more than 600 have been wounded in the fighting, casualties that have deepened Americans' concerns about a war that just one in three Americans support, Reuters reported.

The warning came amid renewed military escalation in the region. The United States and Saudi Arabia launched strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq, while Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and fired ballistic missiles at US military installations in Jordan, according to sources.

Cooper said details on strikes can help Iran mount follow-up attacks. "Detailed public disclosures can become an immediate green light for Iranian forces to launch a secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks," he said.

Potential Confiscation And Family Concerns

Rules surrounding cell phone use for deployed troops can vary widely across the military. Many troops have to lock them away and cell phones can be banned on particularly sensitive missions by special operations forces. But the possible seizure of phones has stoked anxiety among some family members, already on edge in recent months as they read Iranian claims of deadly strikes on bases throughout the Middle East, two sources told Reuters.

US officials have cautioned for years that certain applications on mobile devices can be exploited by adversaries to aid targeting because of location data. Reuters reported in May that commercially available location data harvested from smartphones has been used to target or surveil US forces.

US Central Command spokesperson Captain Timothy Hawkins said: "The message is a general reminder to our service members on the importance of maintaining operational security. This is one of many opportunities Admiral Cooper has used to convey operational priorities."