Everyone Expected Operation Epic Fury

A guide to the objectives, which are very strong

President Trump announces the start of major combat operations in Iran on Saturday.

“No one starts a war—or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so—without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.” ~ Carl von Clausewitz.

EVERYONE expected Operation Epic Fury.

The United States spent weeks amassing the biggest concentration of air power in the Middle East since the Iraq War.

Our chief objective, the President said on Truth Social at 2:30 in the morning Saturday, to announce the attack had begun, was to defend the American people from the vicious Iranian regime. Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon, which is a very simple message.

And freedom for the Iranian people.

“Now is the time to seize control of your destiny, and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action,” Trump said.

Our TWO objectives were defending the American people and freedom for the Iranian people.

“Eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, destroy its ballistic missile arsenal, degrade its proxy terror networks, and cripple its naval forces,” the White House made clear Sunday.

Our THREE objectives—

And terminating Iran’s leadership. “We also projected four weeks to terminate the military leadership, and as you know, that was done in about an hour, so we’re ahead of schedule there by a lot,” the president said Monday.

AMONGST OUR OBJECTIVES are such diverse elements as—

Eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime. Freedom for the Iranian people, although the Defense Secretary has made it clear that this is not a so-called regime change war, and we are very clear-eyed, as the president has been, unlike other presidents, about the foolish policies in the past that recklessly pulled us into things that were not tethered to actual, clear objectives. Ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, because the president told Axios that he understood the Iranians didn’t really want to make a deal, although he told The Atlantic that he is still willing to talk. Destroying Iran’s missiles. Annihilating their Navy. Ensuring their proxies can no longer destabilize the region. Terminating the military leadership. Avenging 47 years of Iranian aggression, including the roadside bombs in Iraq, planted by General Soleimani, who was the father of the roadside bomb, very proudly, he thought, until we terminated him in the first term. Preventing Iran from using a conventional arsenal as a shield for nuclear blackmail ambitions. PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED THE WORLD! And if we have to, boots on the ground, probably not, but the President said himself that, unlike past presidents, he does not have the “yips.”

These are our objectives. They are very strong.

The Secretary of State would like to add that, yes, there was also an imminent threat that forced our hand. Israel was going to attack Iran, after which Iran was going to attack us back, which meant that we had no choice but to attack Iran first, to defend ourselves from the Iranian attack that would have followed the Israeli attack that hadn’t happened yet, to preempt the retaliation that was sure to follow, proactively, in a defensive way.

Everyone expected Operation Epic Fury.

Nobody knows what it’s for.