Scenario description
Assume CENTCOM or the U.S. Defense Department puts new, mandatory civilian-harm mitigation safeguards into effect for CENTCOM air or naval strike planning or execution after renewed scrutiny of reported civilian casualties, including the MarketBrief-reported investigation alleging a U.S. Tomahawk strike on a school in Minab, Iran. The affected geography is CENTCOM theaters, and the affected entities may include U.S. air and naval operational units and contractors supporting targeting, ISR, battle-damage assessment, legal review, command-and-control, or compliance. The exact platforms, missions, exemptions, and added process times are unavailable. The implemented change must materially alter operational workflows, such as requiring additional pattern-of-life intelligence, higher-level approvals for categories of strikes, updated no-strike or restricted-target lists, formal pre-strike civilian casualty estimates, new collateral-damage thresholds, or mandatory post-strike civilian-harm assessments.