Observations of Operation Epic Fury

The United States and Israel have waged lightning war against Iran, America’s mortal enemy for 47 years, and a breaker of peace.

On Saturday morning I woke up to learn America and Israel had launched strikes on Iran. This came after around two months of the Iranian regime’s crackdown on its own people, killing tens of thousands. This also came after weeks of negotiations between the United States and Iran aimed at stopping Iran from murdering civilian protesters, curtailing Iran’s nuclear program, and limiting Iran’s missile development. These talks broke down a couple of days before operations against Iran were launched and after the U.S. had moved forces into the region. According to those familiar with the talk, Iran would not give up its nuclear program.

The lightning war against Iran

From the Central Command press release about “Operation Epic Fury”:

U.S. and partner forces began striking targets at 1:15 am ET to dismantle the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, prioritizing locations that posed an imminent threat. Targets included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields…. Operation Epic Fury involves the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation.

Note that the launch time of 1:15 am Eastern Time is 9:45 am Iranian time. Launching at 9:45am is highly unusual, as the U.S. and Israel have an advantage night vision advantages over Iran, and darkness favors and attacker. We now know the launch of this mission was condition based:  Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei and dozens of other senior regime leaders were meeting that morning at the Ayatollah’s headquarters. Multiple missiles were launched to obliterate it.

This was a masterstroke, as the top leadership of the regime was “decapitated” at the start of the operation. As I write this article, most other key military Iranian leaders have been eliminated, along with command and control sites. Three U.S. servicemembers and at least nine Israelis have unfortunately lost their lives in the erratic Iranian missile barrages. The Iranians blundered with missiles by attacking the neutral gulf state nations, who have now moved to co-belligerents with the U.S. against Iran.

Meticulous planning

My analysis: For the past two months the U.S. has not only moved substantial forces into the region but have “war gamed” every aspect of this operation with the Israelis. Intelligence, both Mossad (Israeli intelligence Service) and CIA, has played a key role with gathering critical information like the Saturday morning meeting. We determined he Iranians believed an attack wouldn’t come during daylight hours and not during the Jewish Sabath (Shabbat on Saturday). Israel Mossad has thoroughly infiltrated the senior ranks of the regime, including within the IRGC. This helps explain the precision of intelligence. Israel admitted Mossad had substantial assets within Iran after the 12 day war in June 2025 and much of that remained.

The deconfliction of Air between not only with Israel, but within the services (Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps) has been masterful and underscores the improvements to our military under Trump. CENTCOM noted it “employed low-cost one-way attack drones for the first time in combat” and this appears to have made a substantial impact on targeting. Attack drones have none of the limitations of manned flight, like search and rescue teams, g-force limitations, and risk of human casualties. Air warfare has moved a long way in the past few years, and the U.S. has kept up.

Democrats say nay

Despite the successes of the operation, Democratic hyper-criticism against the operation has been palpable. Ilhan Omar, for example, posted the following on X “The U.S. apparently loves to strike Muslim countries during Ramadan and I am convinced it isn’t what these countries have done to violate international law but about who they worship.”  Other Democrats slammed Trump for allegedly violating the Constitution by launching without a Congressional Declaration of War.

Ilhan Omar’s screed is almost as repugnant as yelling out the President was a “Murderer” during the State of the Union. Considering the Iranian regime has been murdering thousands of its Muslim citizens during this Ramadan, without a peep of criticism from Omar, she has absolutely no credibility in alleging religious bigotry. Additionally, according to Time Magazine, “Trump had recently received a U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran intended to use its ballistic missile arsenal ‘potentially preemptively’ against American forces amassing in the region (an administration official said).”  The War Powers Resolution allowed President Trump to launch these kinds of military actions to protect U.S. personnel and interests. He must notify Congress withing 48 hours (which he did). The President has an affirmative duty to act where he has literally minutes to decapitate a sworn enemy to save American lives. He took decisive, bold, and correct action.

Stopping Iran

From the beginning of the Iranian Islamist revolutionary regime in 1979 it has been our enemy seeking to harm us. The taking of over 50 American hostages in 1979, the killing of Americans directly or through proxies in places like Beirut (hundreds of Marines) and Iraq and Afghanistan (likely over a thousand servicemembers by Iranian made EFPs). It openly sought nuclear capability to destroy both Israel and the U.S. It continuously demanded “death to America.” And it was a regime that would eventually detonate a nuclear weapon in America if not stopped. Fortunately it appears to have been stopped.

Palm 91:2 reads “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” Let us say the same now.

This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.