Donald Trump boasts of having formatted the American media while accusing CNN’s coverage of working against him in the context of Operation Epic Fury. Accordingly, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth – who comes from being a television commentator – said that the information they spread is full of fake news and launched a sermon against the chain that is about to pass into the hands of the Ellison family, close to the real estate magnate. The Paramount Skydance conglomerate – managed by David Ellison, son of one of the founders of Oracle 49 years ago – has just acquired Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). From there a group will emerge that will add to the current CBS the network that Ted Turner founded in 1980 and that had its “baptism of fire” in the first war against Iraq. No minor fact in relation to this offensive by the United States and Israel against Iran that began on February 28 with the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on behalf of his family, in an operation that is not “going according to plan”, as the US government itself is already recognizing. Despite his winning speech, which the media does not follow.
On Friday, Trump pompously announced that they had destroyed military facilities on the island of Jarg, located 25 kilometers south of the coast of Iran and 483 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz, where the largest terminal for the export of crude oil in Iran is located, but there are also mine and missile deposits from which attacks are launched against US infrastructure in the Middle East. “Under my direction, the United States Central Command carried out one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East, completely annihilating all military objectives in the crown jewel of Iran,” Trump boasted online, where he also added that “for reasons of decency” he decided “not to destroy the island’s oil infrastructure.”
But so much fuss has short legs. The first official statement from Iran states that yes, the island was attacked and there were more than 15 explosions. That “the enemy tried to damage the military fortifications, the Joushan naval base, the airport control tower and the helicopter hangar on the continental shelf” and that sources confirm that the oil infrastructure was not damaged. But there is an interesting fact: Iran had warned that any attack on energy facilities would enable the destruction of all oil and gas infrastructure in the region. And with the economic crisis that the Israeli-American adventure has already unleashed, there is no room for those jokes.
On the other hand, in the early hours of this Saturday the United States diplomatic headquarters in Baghdad was attacked. According to different media, a drone had hit the building complex and two deaths had been reported. This incident was related to operations against Iranian-aligned Shiite militias in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). On Friday, six American soldiers had died in the crash of a KC-135 tanker plane in western Iraq. The number of fatalities from the operation ordered by Trump rises to more than a dozen, while in Iran the deaths exceed 1,200.
What is striking in this scenario is that while Hegseth, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the tenant of the White House boast of an overwhelming victory over the Persian country and swear to have injured the son of the Ayatollah, his successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, the president himself posted on his Truth network that “many countries, especially those that are affected by Iran’s attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, will send Warships, along with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe.” Trump’s explanation is that “we have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s military capability, but it is easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a short-range missile somewhere along or within this waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are.”.
And here comes the best: “Hopefully, China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others, who are affected by this artificial restriction, will send ships to the area so that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer a threat from a nation that has been totally decapitated.” Which raises an uncomfortable question. If the military operation is so effective, why do they “invite” people to help them in the adventure?
And here then the Iranian strategy must be analyzed. Ali Khamenei established what is known as the Mosaic Defense Doctrine. Knowing that for Israel any operation against Muslim forces begins by beheading the opponent’s leadership, Khamenei established a way to maintain the continuity of the government even if it had been eliminated. On the one hand, he did not take refuge in a bunker as Western spokespersons maintained, but decided to become a martyr, which implies a similar attitude for the Shiite faith. The religious leader then activated an order to decentralize the armed forces that only an ayatollah could revoke.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is divided into 31 autonomous units, one in each province. Since the central command has disappeared since February 28, they are managed according to their own initiatives in the circumstances in which they find themselves.
The US operation has become, in recent days, Presidential Fury by virtue of the elusive march of results. Hence the threat of “putting boots on the ground” that would imply for the United States to once again bury itself in an eternal war that it would have no chance of winning. The experience is clear about what happened in Iraq, Afghanistan and half a century ago, in Vietnam.
In fact, the Washington Post published that Trump ignored the advice of the intelligence community, which warned him of a serious error in believing that the war would lead to the collapse of the regime. On the contrary, in a press conference the president said that he had ordered the attacks on Iran on the direct advice of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his real estate colleague Steve Witkoff and Hegseth. “They told me that Iran was going to attack first,” he justified. «
Israel, Lebanon and Macron
Israel Defense Forces struck again in Beirut and southern Lebanon in an offensive against the Hezbollah resistance movement. Since the beginning of the month, the Israeli offensive caused 773 deaths, 1,933 injuries and some 8,000,000 displaced people in the south of that country. Wanting to show some leadership amid this dire situation in the Middle East, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to engage in direct talks with Lebanon and for Israeli forces to “abandon any large-scale offensive and stop their massive attacks.”
Meanwhile, a Mossad spy, Khalid al Eid, a Ukrainian citizen and member of a Palestinian family from Syria, sought refuge in the Ukrainian embassy in Beirut. The Lebanese secret services accuse him of coordinating several murders, including those of Hezbollah leaders, and the United States requests his extradition. The Ukrainians gave him shelter.
