“Major combat operations in Iran.”
Who’s excited?! Pete Hegseth, surely. I don’t know about anybody else, though.
The quote’s from Donald Trump, Board of Peace founder, Nobel Peace Prize hopeful (and second-hand recipient) and man who promised to end America’s “forever wars” in the Mideast.
In announcing the onset of “massive” US-Israeli strikes across Iran on Saturday, Trump claimed self defense, calling the regime in Tehran a gang of “very hard, terrible people.”
During an eight-minute video address, Trump recapped half a century of regional history, beginning with the 1979 hostage crisis, proceeding to the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing (recall that Israel located and killed the Hezbollah planner behind that attack on July 30, 2024, and his accomplice less than two months later) and then to Qassem Soleimani’s years-long support for Shia proxies in Iraq, where scores of US service members dispatched initially to overthrow another “very hard, terrible” regime were injured and killed in the ensuing sectarian melee.
Trump then alluded to the Houthis’ efforts to disrupt global shipping lanes. “It’s been mass terror,” he declared. “And we’re not gonna put up with it any longer.”
As he spoke, the US and Israeli militaries targeted government buildings in Iran including, by appearances anyway, the intelligence ministry and the presidential palace. Explosions were reported in at least five cities, including the capital.
Iran responded with the usual volley of missiles and drones, sending Israelis into bomb shelters, and activating air defenses at Ali Al Salem (in Kuwait), Al Dhafra (in the UAE) and, of course, Al Udeid in Qatar, the largest US forward base in the region, which Iran used to stage a harmless fireworks show last June, after Trump blew up the regime’s nuclear facilities.
Early evidence suggests the IRGC’s efforts were characteristically ineffectual, with apologies to anyone who might’ve caught some shrapnel.
Ali Khamenei’s compound looked to have taken a direct hit. A satellite image from the area showed grey, smoldering wreckage. All of the structures in the interior of the complex appeared collapsed.
Normally, Khamenei hangs out there. He won’t be going back assuming he lives through the next week or two, which is far from guaranteed.
Verified video footage from Narmak — a neighborhood in the northeast of the capital — suggests the US and Israel might’ve tried to kill Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday too. One of his known residences was reduced to a twisted pile of flaming rubble, around which confused locals milled, sobbed and shrieked.
Traffic was backed up for miles on the Sattari expressway, as residents of the capital tried to get out of Dodge. The regime’s national security committee said the capital would likely be targeted continually. Citizens, it said, should consider leaving for “other areas” that might be safer. The council had no suggestions on where those safe places might be. In a testament to the peril, the building which houses the National Security Council was itself struck.
The US and Israel also took aim at Kataib Hezbollah bases in Iraq, killing several militia members. I’m not sure what’s left of the group now, but it’s probably fair to say that in Lebanese Hezbollah’s dilapidated state, Kataib Hezbollah’s the most militarily capable of Iran’s remaining proxies. Its founder, Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed in the same January 2020 US drone strike that killed Soleimani.
Israeli officials who spoke to the Western media indicated that the first strikes conducted with the US were intended to eliminate remaining key figures in Iran’s military-intelligence apparatus, which was already hollowed out by a succession of unsparing IDF assassinations carried out over two years in Lebanon, Syria and, during last year’s brief war, Tehran.
The first wave of US-Israeli operations will last at least a few days, with the initial objective of killing as many senior regime officials as possible. Notably, it doesn’t look as though Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are drawing a distinction between, on one hand, the civilian government and, on the other, the clerical ranks and the IRGC.
That is: For the purposes of this “special military operation” (that’s a macabre war joke), Iranian politicians are considered to be part of the “regime,” and are thereby legitimate targets. I don’t have any evidence to back up that assertion unless you count the bombed out buildings mentioned above (that’s more gallows humor).
The IRGC — which, as noted in these pages on multiple occasions over the last several weeks, should’ve ousted Khamenei and tried to strike a Delcy Rodríguez deal with Trump — did its best Baghdad Bob impression on Saturday.
“We will teach Israel and America a lesson they have never experienced in their history,” a statement carried by Fars said. Without wanting to express anything that might be (mis)construed as sympathy for the regime, that sort of bombast looks even more pitiably ridiculous than it usually does. They have no chance here whatsoever and no options at all.
The IRGC’s being fired upon, at will, by the two most advanced military powers on Earth and Iran has no air defenses to speak of. All they have are missiles and drones for kamikaze missions, and while the regime can kill some people in Israel with those, the idea — which until 2025 was mistakenly viewed in the West as semi-plausible — that they can win a war with them was exposed last year as not just ridiculous, but wholly risible.
In his address, Trump called for the Iranian people to overthrow the regime. “Take over your government,” he beseeched. “This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Trump then claimed for himself the title of liberator, much as George W. Bush did in Iraq. “For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it,” Trump told Iranians. “Now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let’s see how you respond.”
The onset of hostilities came just a day after nuclear negotiations in Geneva wrapped up with no deal.
If you’re wondering whether the 15-year-old who pushes the buttons and pulls the levers in Pete Hegseth’s thinker box cooked up an absurd name for the war that’ll define Trump’s second term foreign policy legacy, the answer’s “Hell-to-the-yeah!”
The annals of history will begrudgingly refer to America’s latest Mideast regime change effort (and the second overall such effort of 2026) as “Operation Epic Fury.”
I had to google it. Just to make sure. I didn’t want to believe he really named it “Epic Fury.” What a world.
What caught my eye in all this [waves hands around generally] whatnot is that Trump warned there could be US casualties. “That often happens in war,” were his exact words. That suggests boots will be (at least temporarily) on the ground. The man who loves TV wants to see more live-action command raids on people who’ve defied him.
It’s all fine as long as it’s an “operation” and not a “war”.
Of course non of these clowns (the Orange Menace, Pistol Pete, Raisin’ Cain) can answer the question “So what happens next?” Seems to be a perpetual problem when we show up in the Middle East.
Indeed, and it’s my primary concern in the Iran saga: who ends up in charge, and what does that do for the Iranian people in terms of human and civil rights, and (more callously and with admitted self interest) for Iran’s position in the global economy?
If I were an IRGC head honcho, I wouldn’t see a point to formally abolishing the theocracy; why rock the boat unless I stood to gain something? And, isn’t the cover of religiosity a huge asset to the Basij when it comes to population control? Why not nominate a new God botherer as Supreme Leader and continue business as usual?
The military purpose of this strike appears to have been to remove any whiff of projection of power from Iran’s inventory — for example, the Strait of Hormuz will be open for business at the cost of 85 schoolgirls’ lives after the strike in Hormozgan province.
Attempting to decapitate the political leadership at the same time, however — for example, going after Ahmedinejad even though he holds no formal office at this point — only makes sense if there is some faction within the IRGC/bureaucracy that is known to be more amenable to the outcomes that the US and Israel desire. (And what do we desire? Dismantlement of the weapons program, financial and logistical abandonment of extra-territorial militias; anything else?)
So: either there’s a hidden card, some faction that we hope to promote to power; or this is just Benjamin Netanyahu using his pointy missile-shaped words to send a message to any remaining adults in the room, over in IRGC’s command bunkers: your ability to project power is permanently in check; give up on the nukes or face economic ruination.
” . . . and what does that do for the Iranian people in terms of human and civil rights . . .”
With the caveat that my knowledge of current Iranian society is very limited, is living under the current regime good for the Iranian people in terms of human and civil rights, particularly women?
I get that it can always get worse, but I’m not the under the impression the average Iranian is living the good life under the theocracy.
Serious question: it seems to me that the primary beneficiaries of weakening Iran and/or a regime change will be Israel and Saudi. The Israelis are pulling their weight here but where are the Saudis??? They have plenty of US planes and such, no? Do they get a free pass for various “business reasons”?
Upon further reflection it is no surprise. The Saudis were not even scolded after 9/11 and they were allowed to fly in and evacuate their citizens. No other countries were afforded that privilege. Nor was there a peep about their funding of Al Quada, ISIS and IS. What great allies we have in the region!
First I’ve seen anyone pointing out this pithy fact. Finally, someone has pointed out another major flaw in our piss-poor foreign policy. Thank you, sir.
Taylor-Green and the “America First” bunch waking up to the cold, hard reality of placing a megalomaniac narcissist in power.
Going out on a limb here as I don’t know if really relevant, but I do remember that the first wave of dumb money to shore up liquidity for the crumbling US banks during the GFC, was Saudi and affiliates sovereign funds… Let’s not be Too smug.
The strategic geniuses that came up with the moniker “Operation Epic Fury” are cut from the same cloth as the guys that coined “Prestige Worldwide”
It’s funny, I almost made that same joke here, and also on Friday in the Weekly about the UK mortgage lender. “Market Financial Solutions” sounds a lot like a Huff-Doback production too.