BREAKING: Trump Launches Strikes; Tells Iranians to 'Seize Control of Your Desti

[SVPete]

BREAKING: Trump Launches Strikes; Tells Iranians to 'Seize Control of Your Destiny'

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/02/28/breaking-trump-launches-strikes-tells-iranians-to-seize-control-of-your-destiny-n3812377

The US and Israel have launched what appears to be the first of a series of attacks on Iranian regime targets. Iran has responded with ballistic-missile attacks on Israel, Qatar, and Iraq. At the moment, little is known about the damage done by either side.

However, plenty is known about the reasons for the attacks. Donald Trump released a video statement declaring that the US refuses to be held hostage to a nuclear-weapons threat from the theocrats in Tehran, and he urged the Iranian people to take back control of their country:
...
The Jerusalem Post reports that the first strikes targeted senior regime officials and top IRGC commanders:

Israeli and US strikes on Iran killed several senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and Islamic Regime political officials, an Iranian source close to the establishment told Reuters on Saturday. ...

Iranian media reported strikes targeting the IRGC's intelligence headquarters, as well as explosions in central Tehran. The country has closed its airspace in response to the strikes.

They also report that Israel and the US have launched a massive cyberattack on the regime:

As fighter jets and cruise missiles struck IRGC command centers, a parallel front reportedly paralyzed the Islamic Republic from within. Reports on Saturday, February 28, 2026, indicated that Iran entered an almost complete digital fog, in what appeared to be a large-scale cyberattack accompanying Operation “Roar of the Lion.”

Critical infrastructure, official news sites, and security communications systems reportedly stopped functioning, leaving the leadership in a communications blackout at home and abroad.

Leadership and communications were "first" targets. I've also heard that Iranian naval bases on the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman were hit. This would prevent Iran from trying to disrupt tanker and cargo traffic in that area.

[SVPete]

From a couple of X posts, https://x.com/shanaka86/status/2027725563251847510 :

They did not bomb Iran. They waited for Iran’s entire leadership to sit down in the same room and then they bombed Iran.

Months of intelligence. Thousands of hours of surveillance and signal intercepts. One variable: the moment the Supreme Leader, the President, and senior military command gathered in a single location at the same time.

That moment was 8:15 this morning. Daylight. Every previous Israeli strike on Iran came at night. June 2025 launched in darkness. October 2024 after midnight. Iran’s entire air defense doctrine is built around the assumption that Israel attacks in the dark.  ...
...
This is not a military operation. This is the destruction of institutional trust inside a regime. Every general who sits with Khamenei tomorrow will wonder who told Jerusalem about today. Every IRGC commander who receives a meeting summons will calculate whether attendance is duty or a death sentence. Every secure facility in Tehran has been proven insecure.

https://x.com/shanaka86/status/2027696194642968626

ran just fired missiles at five countries simultaneously. Here is what actually happened to each of them.

Bahrain. Confirmed hit on the US Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters. Bahrain’s own state news agency reported the strike. No casualty figures released yet. This is the command center for every American naval operation in the Persian Gulf. ...

UAE. Multiple missiles intercepted by Emirati air defenses. One civilian killed in Abu Dhabi from falling debris. ...

Qatar. Missile intercepted. Zero damage. The Qatari Interior Ministry confirmed. ...

Kuwait. KUNA state news agency confirmed missiles were “dealt with” in Kuwaiti airspace. No reported damage. ...

Jordan. Two Iranian ballistic missiles shot down by Jordanian military. ... This time Iran targeted Jordan itself.

Saudi Arabia. Fars News claims strikes. No confirmation from any Saudi source. ...

Now understand what Iran just accomplished strategically. In attempting to retaliate against Israel and America, the IRGC fired missiles at six sovereign nations in a single morning. Not one of those nations attacked Iran. Bahrain did not bomb Tehran. The UAE did not launch strikes on Isfahan. Qatar hosted diplomatic back channels. Kuwait maintained neutrality for three decades. Jordan was mediating.

Iran just converted every neutral and semi-neutral state in the Gulf into a potential co-belligerent. ...

[SVPete]

NEW: Israeli Intel Indicates Khamenei Hit, IRGC Commander Killed; UPDATE: Three Hits On Meetings

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/02/28/israeli-intel-khamenei-hit-irgc-commander-killed-in-opening-strikes-n3812379

Initial indications from intel sources are that Ali Khamenei has at least been hit in the attack, and that the IRGC's top commander has been killed. The Times of Israel followed up on a report from KAN:

Israel “assesses” that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was likely killed in an Israeli strike earlier today, Channel 12 says, citing unnamed Israeli sources. It says there are “growing indications” to this effect.

There is no official confirmation of the report.

The TV station had minutes earlier said the Israeli assessment was that Khamenei was “hurt at the very least, ” and that this was not an assessment based on satellite imagery showing Khamenei’s presidential compound being flattened, but rather on information from unnamed sources.

Take it with a block of salt, but Ayatollah-down could be a good thing for the world.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Biden appointed federal judges will soon be granting asylum status to IRGC operatives.

[SVPete]

Biden appointed federal judges will soon be granting asylum status to IRGC operatives.

Can I hope that the Habeas Corpus petition will be literally true to the Latin?

[Rick]

https://appalachianrenegade.com/

These guys are posting pictures from X showing missiles strikes in different country's. There is also an X post on Yemen firing missiles on Israel.

Two thing I expect to see; Bombs going off in American city's and cartel attacks on our Navy, something along the USS Cole attack.

And of course everybody has forgotten about what-his-face's files.

[SVPete]

Trump=Haters claim they do not understand why Trump attacked Iran and demand he explain. Here's what Trump said yesterday (2/28) morning, from https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/full-text-trump-announces-major-combat-operations-in-iran/ :

A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.

Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted ‘Death to America’ and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries. Among the regime’s very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days. In 1983, Iran’s proxies carried out the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel. In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Cole.

Many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq. The regime’s proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as U.S. naval and commercial vessels in international shipping lands. It’s been mass terror, and we’re not going to put up with it any longer.

From Lebanon to Yemen and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts, and it was Iran’s proxy, Hamas, that launched the monstrous October 7 attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens hostage. It was brutal, something like the world has never seen before.

Iran is the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested. It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon. That is why, in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime’s nuclear program at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it. They didn’t want to do it. Again, they wanted to do it. They didn’t want to do it. They didn’t know what was happening. They just wanted to practice evil, but Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades.

They rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore. Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland. Just imagine how emboldened this regime would be if they ever had and actually were armed with nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message. For these reasons, the United States military has undertaken a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated. We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces, and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans.

And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. It’s a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration, and there is no military on Earth even close to its power, strength or sophistication. My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.

We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm’s way, and we trust that with his help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail. We have the greatest in the world, and they will prevail.

To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity, or in the alternative, face certain death. So, lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.

Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want. So let’s see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. 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. Do not let it pass. May God bless the brave men and women of America’s Armed Forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all. Thank you.

My emphasis. For those yammering, "What changed?" it's the part in red.

[SVPete]

An 11+minute video with some updates on things hit, by US & Israel and by Iran, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8KUP1rm39A .

[Airwolf]

Well, it didn't take long for the "I hate America" crowd to step up and start with the " I don't understand why he bombed Iran" or "He didn't give them warnings" or he "had no business bombing Iran".   If they were any more treasonous, they might as well be members of the IRGC. This whole thing should have been done over 47 years ago but why hash over how useless Jimmy Carter was and why his lack of a spine led us to this point.

[SVPete]

I'm not going to quote from this, https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/03/01/new-netanyahu-promises-to-intensify-attacks-on-tehran-as-iranians-celebrate-n3812404 , the attacks and pronunciations are continuing. The big news, IMO, is that the Iranian navy is a prime target, i.e. the ships and boats Iran has been using to throttle oil and cargo shipping. Hopefully the Iranian navy will be reduced to leaky dhows and rowboats.

[SVPete]

The Reason Trump Struck Iran That the Left Doesn’t Want You to Know

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/03/01/the-reason-trump-struck-iran-that-the-left-doesnt-want-you-to-know-n4950107

Almost instantly, Democrats in Washington started howling, calling the strikes “illegal,” “dangerous,” and “reckless.” They claimed that President Donald Trump didn’t consult Congress. You’d think they’d be cheering the demise of one of the world’s most dangerous tyrants, but no. For the left, this wasn’t a victory against terror. It was another chance to vilify Trump.

First, it should be noted that Congress was briefed. The Gang of Eight, which includes members of both parties’ top leaders in Congress, had been briefed days earlier that military action might be necessary.

“The Gang of 8 was briefed in detail earlier this week that military action may become necessary to protect American troops and American citizens in Iran,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement posted to X. “I received updates from Secretary Rubio thereafter, and I will remain in close contact with the President and the Department of War as this operation proceeds. We pray for the safety of our brave servicemembers and our allies involved in Operation Epic Fury. May God bless them, and may God bless America.”
...
But, here’s what they don’t want you to know: the strike wasn’t about flexing muscle or distracting from politics. It was about stopping an imminent bloodbath.

According to CNN’s Scott Jennings, senior Trump administration officials presented ironclad intelligence showing Iran was preparing to launch missile attacks on both U.S. military and civilian targets across the Middle East.

IOW, the timing was to preempt Iran's planned mass-preemption. No intelligence is perfect, as was demonstrated by the small amounts of WMD found in Iraq proved, but there comes a point where waiting for absolute certainty is at the imminent risk of lives.

[SVPete]

Here's an ~9 minute video surveying damage to Iran's navy to date, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNqLkRaGNqk .

The 125-ton mini-subs are interesting. They don't have the sea-keeping or range to be patrolling the Indian Ocean or far from the coast in the Arabian Sea. They're designed to patrol in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Hypothetically, they could be useful against an amphibious invasion, but other than the remote possibility of a landing on the Arabian Sea coast, that is highly unlikely to happen. Navies don't send their large ships into tightly confined waters unless they have to (e,g, "Iron Bottom Sound"). So, what's left? Commerce-raiding and piratic operations against tankers and cargo ships traversing the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

[SVPete]

BREAKING: Iran Just Suffered Another Devastating Blow

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/03/03/iran-just-suffered-another-devastating-blow-n4950183

According to the Associated Press, with Khamenei now dead, Iran’s constitution provides a process for selecting a new Supreme Leader. On Sunday, Iran formed a three-man leadership council to handle the supreme leader’s powers temporarily.
...
Under Iranian law, an 88-member Assembly of Experts must hustle to name Khamenei's successor. Top names floated include former President Hassan Rouhani, the founder’s grandson, Hassan Khomeini, Khamenei’s own son, Mojtaba, Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi, and Qom hardliner Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri. Mojtaba lurks as the family insider pick. Hassan Khomeini offers a softer face. Rouhani brings negotiation cred. But the assembly holds the real cards.

Or it did.

Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst dropped a bombshell. Israel "just struck" the "gathering where the Iranians were meeting to choose a new supreme leader."

“But I'm told by a senior Israeli official that the Israelis just struck the Supreme Council gathering where the Iranians were meeting to choose a new supreme leader,” Yingst reported. “This is a significant development and again, speaks to the Israeli intelligence about this war. They just targeted the meeting in Tehran where what's left of the leadership was gathering to choose a new supreme leader.”

Among the four major goals of the campaign - taking out Iranian leadership; destroying Iran's nuclear program; taking out Iran's missile capability; destroying Iran's navy - Israel seems to be mainly focusing on taking out Iranian leadership. However Israel and the US knew of the meeting struck the first minutes of the campaign, it looks like some of the best intel sources are still operational.

Between the intial attack and now this one, it looks doubtful that Iran has many national-level leaders who could even negotiate some form of surrender.

[SVPete]

The Iranian navy is having a really bad week. In the past day or two, a Russian-built Kilo class diesel-electric submarine and two frigates have been sunk, among other sinkings and damage in the past not-quite-a-week.

[SVPete]

Iran's Missile Attacks Are Faltering. Here's Why.

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/03/05/irans-missile-pace-falters-heres-why-n3812548

In the Twelve Day War, the Israelis understood that Iran's missile production had allowed the mullahs to conduct nearly unlimited ballistic warfare against them. Launchers were Tehran's vulnerability at that time – at least the one that the IDF could exploit with its own resources. Israel destroyed enough of them in June to slow down the massive barrages, although toward the end, more of the missiles leaked through their defenses.

This time, however, Israel has an ally with much more firepower. Launchers became a point of vulnerability again, with the US and Israel focusing on the mobile launchers in the first waves of attack. However, the boost in offensive capability has exposed an even more valuable vulnerability, as the Wall Street Journal reports, and it has had a more serious impact:

Iran spent decades constructing underground bunkers to shield its vast missile arsenal from destruction. Less than a week into the war with its two most powerful adversaries, the strategy is beginning to look like a blunder.

U.S. and Israeli war planes and armed drones are circling over the dozens of cavernous bases, striking missile-carrying launchers when they emerge to fire. Meanwhile, waves of heavy bombers have dropped munitions on the sites, apparently entombing the Iranian weapons below ground in some locations.

Satellite imagery taken in recent days shows the smoldering remains of several Iranian missiles and launchers destroyed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes near entrances to the “missile cities,” as Iranian officials call the subterranean sites.

Essentially, the IRGC created ballistic-missile cemeteries. Bunkers made some sense during that period, but only if Iran wanted to defend itself from Israel alone. It paid off to some extent in the Twelve Day War, as the IDF did not have the resources to commit to these kinds of sorties, nor to track all of these potential sites with real-time surveillance by satellites and drones. ...

Meanwhile the Trump-Hating MSM - US and World - have been touting the genius of hiding the missile in underground bunkers. As the article points out, The US and Israel have the planes and recon drones - and the command of the air - to loiter and call in strikes when a launcher pokes out its head.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Iran's Missile Attacks Are Faltering. Here's Why.

There are only so many ways to access a bunker network. You don't need to guard the area, you only need to guard the doors.

I'm not sure how any supposedly competent person wouldn't see that and act accordingly.

[SVPete]

How Israel’s Blue Sparrow Strike Flew Through Space and Caught Iran Off Guard

https://pjmedia.com/david-manney/2026/03/05/how-israels-blue-sparrow-strike-flew-through-space-and-caught-iran-off-guard-n4950296

Israel delivered one of the most dramatic and accurate military strikes in modern Middle East history when a precision ballistic missile killed Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Talk about warheads on foreheads!

Israeli forces used a Blue Sparrow air-launched ballistic missile fired from an F-15 fighter jet. The Sparrow traveled hundreds of miles, climbed high above the atmosphere, then plunged nearly straight down onto Khamenei's compound in Tehran. The steep reentry path produced enormous impact energy, leaving Iran's air defense systems little time to react. The explosion destroyed the compound and killed senior Iranian leadership gathered in the building.
...
Israeli F-15 jets and other aircraft were deployed at around 7:30 a.m. Iran time, with the aircraft unleashing 30 missiles, including Blue Sparrows, to the heart of the Ayatollah's compound about two hours earlier.

The missile's ability to exit and reenter the Earth's atmosphere makes it nearly impossible to intercept, allowing the bombs to clear Iran's defense systems.

The weapon that carried out the strike originated as part of Israel's missile testing program for its Arrow ballistic missile defense system. Israel developed the Blue Sparrow as a target missile designed to simulate long-range threats such as Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missile.

Defense planners from Israel later adapted the platform for operational use. When launched from an aircraft such as an Israeli Air Force F-15, the missile climbs on a ballistic arc that carries it beyond the dense layers of the atmosphere before reentering at extreme speed. The final descent occurs at a very steep angle, compressing reaction time for radar-tracking and interception systems.

A missile originally designed to be a target simulating Iranian missiles got transformed into an almost unstoppable missile that took out Iran's top Mullahcrats. That takes irony to a cosmic level.

[SVPete]

The Sinking of the Dena Was Textbook

https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/the-sinking-of-the-dena-was-textbook

What it represents are the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) out of the Persian Gulf/Arabian Gulf. Each of those dots is a tanker delivering the hydrocarbons that enable modern civilization to exist and keep three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse in the stable.

The one center-screen? That is the SLOC our warships and their logistics chain use to move from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean and on to our fleet.

See the city of Colombo? That is the main commercial hub on the island nation of Sri Lanka. The very center of the SLOC that flows south of Sri Lanka lies about 40 nautical miles south of the island.
...
The United States and Israel are presently in a naval and air conflict with Iran. Over the last 96 hours, we have sunk almost all the Iranian Navy. In spite of this, an Iranian frigate armed with anti-ship cruise missiles left a neutral port and headed west toward the American fleet conducting combat operations. She was sailing athwart the major Indian Ocean SLOC our fleet was using.

A wise Commanding Officer, faced with such overwhelming overmatch, would have done what COs have done for thousands of years in such situations: he would not have put to sea.

He knew thousands of years of war at sea. He knew what was going on, but he persisted.

No naval leader in the last three thousand years would have looked at this scenario and said, “No, leave that warship alone.”

Anyone familiar with the WW2 Pacific War would be utterly unsurprised by this map of modern commerce ship routes. Putting the Dena's situation more simply, ISIS Dena was sailing through the most heavily travelled tanker and commerce route in that part of the world. Further, Dena was equipped with four anti-ship missiles, six (IIRC) torpedo tubes, and a 76 mm gun. She was a substantial threat to commercial vessels in a heavily traveled sea lane, and had the sensors to find prey.

[FlippyDoo]

I've seem some of the DemonRat overlords claim that we have no cause to attack Iran because they haven’t attacked US soil. They attacked US soil on November 4, 1979 when they took over our embassy, and as far as I’m concern, they declared war on the USA that has never ended. We do indeed have a reason to attack Iran. My gripe is that it’s an attack that should have happened about 47 years ago.

[SVPete]

I've seem some of the DemonRat overlords claim that we have no cause to attack Iran because they haven’t attacked US soil. They attacked US soil on November 4, 1979 when they took over our embassy, and as far as I’m concern, they declared war on the USA that has never ended. We do indeed have a reason to attack Iran. My gripe is that it’s an attack that should have happened about 47 years ago.

Syria and Libya attacked US soil?

Bosnia and Serbia attacked US soil?

Vietnam attacked US soil?

NoKo attacked US soil?

Germany attacked US soil before and during WW2?

Russia attacked US soil in 1919?

Germany attacked US soil before and during WW1?

[ADsOutburst]

Syria and Libya attacked US soil?

Bosnia and Serbia attacked US soil?

Vietnam attacked US soil?

NoKo attacked US soil?

Germany attacked US soil before and during WW2?

Russia attacked US soil in 1919?

Germany attacked US soil before and during WW1?

I saw a clip of a reporter asking Hakeem Jeffries why it was okay to bomb Libya without Congressional approval, but wrong to bomb Iran. Jeffries' attempt to answer was embarrassing.