Iran War

[Vrede too]

This sounds about right.

A New Report Alleges That Trump's TV Watching Habits Were The Reason He Decided To Bomb Iran

Maybe we should call it the Faux Noise War instead.

I'd go with Weak Minded Petulant DonOld's War.

Bibi's Bitch's War?

[GoCubsGo]

Bibi's Bitch's War?

Honestly think he was that jealous and petulant of Bibi and the Israeli military getting accolades and he wasn't.

Bibi was playing 4d chess with the checker player.

DonOld "War is Hell" Trump or maybe Foxhole DonOld.

[1 CAT FAN]

[Vrede too]

Bibi's Bitch's War?

Honestly think he was that jealous and petulant of Bibi and the Israeli military getting accolades and he wasn't.

Bibi was playing 4d chess with the checker player.

DonOld "War is Hell" Trump or maybe Foxhole DonOld.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/ ... 7p2xq@jpeg

Corrupt birds of a feather (and their sycophants) flock together.

[Vrede too]

The US was already at war on behalf of Bibi well before the B-2 strike:

US Navy warships are firing top ballistic missile interceptors at an 'alarming rate,' admiral says

Since last year, US warships have repeatedly fired SM-3 interceptors to defend Israel from Iranian missiles....

[Vrede too]

I opened this article with trepidation. Americans are a bloodthirsty lot.

Trump approval rating: New poll released after US strikes on Iran

... Two polls released this week showed the president at a 41% approval rating, a few points below June averages that have hovered around 45%. The poll numbers come amid a CNN/SSRS survey also released this week showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the president's strikes in Iran.

In a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, June 26, the Republican leader had a 41% approval rating among respondents, with 54% disapproving. This compares to Quinnipiac's poll released June 11, when 38% approved and 54% disapproved.

Respondents gave Trump less-than-majority marks across his handling of seven key issues:

The military: 45% approve, 49% disapprove
Foreign policy: 40% approve, 54% disapprove
The Israel-Iran war: 39% approve, 53% disapprove

Immigration: 41% approve, 57% disapprove
Deportations: 39% approve, 59% disapprove

Wow, I thought these two were a highlight of DonOLD polling.

The economy: 39% approve, 56% disapprove
Trade: 38% approve, 55% disapprove

The billionaire MBA? Say it ain't so. Maybe Greed is Bad.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released earlier this week gave Trump a similar 41% approval number, the lowest that the poll has found in his second term and down one point from earlier in the month. The poll opened after U.S. airstrikes on Iran June 21 and ended early June 23 before Iran said it attacked a U.S. air base in Qatar. The Reuters/Ipsos survey gave him a 57% disapproval rating, with opinions of his stance on the economy and foreign policy both slipping four points to 35% approval.

An average of recent polling from the New York Times shows Trump's approval rating at 44%, as of Thursday, June 26, with 53% disapproving of his job performance. Pollster Nate Silver's "Silver Bulletin" newsletter calculated the president has a 45% approval and 52% disapproval Thursday, and RealClearPolitics' average was slightly higher, giving the president a 46% approval and 51% disapproval rating.

Several

He's on the verge of dropping below 40% approval, something we've been anticipating for awhile given his poor performance.

[1 CAT FAN]

our dinky, unimportant forum

Classic

Told his people to go fuck a goat.

[GoCubsGo]

Wait, did DonOld lie?

Two more blows were dealt on Sunday to the Donald Trump administration image of ruination that supposedly befell Iran’s nuclear program as a result of U.S. airstrikes.

First, a top official with the United Nations’s nuclear watchdog told CBS News that Iran’s production capabilities would be able to enrich weapons-grade uranium within a few months, in the event Iran’s government orders production of a nuclear-tipped missile.

Then, The Washington Post revealed that U.S. intelligence sources intercepted a call between top Iranian officials commenting on the strikes and describing them as less destructive than Tehran was expecting.

[GoCubsGo]

When did Americans become smart?

Poll: Just 22% of Americans believe Trump's claim that U.S. strikes have 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear program
And just 31% of Americans believe the U.S. attacks will ultimately do “more good than harm” — while far more say the opposite (49%).

[GoCubsGo]

When did Americans become smart?

Poll: Just 22% of Americans believe Trump's claim that U.S. strikes have 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear program
And just 31% of Americans believe the U.S. attacks will ultimately do “more good than harm” — while far more say the opposite (49%).

Obliterated!

Oh, wait......

New U.S. assessment finds American strikes destroyed only one of three Iranian nuclear sites

[1 CAT FAN]

When did Americans become smart?

Poll: Just 22% of Americans believe Trump's claim that U.S. strikes have 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear program
And just 31% of Americans believe the U.S. attacks will ultimately do “more good than harm” — while far more say the opposite (49%).

When did Iran agree to a ceasefire?

[Vrede too]

Obliterated!

Oh, wait......

New U.S. assessment finds American strikes destroyed only one of three Iranian nuclear sites

Opps. How could the CiC be so wrong?

[1 CAT FAN]

Tensions are boiling across the region in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. President Biden has shared a stark, single-word warning for Iran and its proxies, which include Hamas. Harris echoed his message: "Don't."

"One word, pretty straightforward," she said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-har ... 0-minutes/

[Vrede too]

When did Americans become smart?

Poll: Just 22% of Americans believe Trump's claim that U.S. strikes have 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear program
And just 31% of Americans believe the U.S. attacks will ultimately do “more good than harm” — while far more say the opposite (49%).

... far more Americans say they approve (47%) than disapprove (25%) of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that “dismantled much of its nuclear program and opened its facilities to more extensive international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars’ worth of sanctions relief.” And far more disapprove (54%) than approve (20%) of the U.S. withdrawing from that deal during Trump’s first term — after which Iran “resumed its nuclear activities.”

In other words, far more Americans approve of Obama's actions than TRE45QN's.

[GoCubsGo]

Happy SOTU.

[Whack9]

US lets some embassy staff leave Israel, citing safety risks

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-ea ... 026-02-27/

JERUSALEM, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. will permit non-emergency government personnel and family members to leave Israel over safety risks, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said on Friday, amid growing concerns about the risk of a military conflict with Iran.
The embassy did not elaborate on the safety risks leading to the "authorized departure", which allows affected personnel to decide whether to leave. It falls short of the ordered departure instituted this week for some personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

The New York Times reported that Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, told staff in an email that those wishing to leave "should do so TODAY".
"There is no need to panic," Mr. Huckabee was quoted by the newspaper as writing, "but for those desiring to leave, it's important to make plans to depart sooner rather than later."
The embassy declined to comment on the newspaper's report.

Is it about to happen?

[GoCubsGo]

Is it about to happen?

Hmmmm.....

China just published annotated satellite imagery of every F-22 Raptor at Israel’s Ovda Air Base. Each aircraft individually tagged in Chinese characters on Weibo. Eleven stealth fighters that cost $67 billion to develop for the sole purpose of being invisible, cataloged and distributed on social media like a restaurant menu.

The same week, China sold Iran CM-302 supersonic anti-ship missiles. The same week, China photographed every warship leaving Bahrain. And today, as Geneva talks began, Politico dropped the real bombshell buried beneath the diplomacy: senior Trump advisers prefer Israel to strike Iran first because “the politics are a lot better.”

Read that sentence until it burns.

Washington does not want to throw the first punch. Washington wants Israel to throw it, absorb Iran’s retaliation, and then use that retaliation as political justification for the full American response. The 500 aircraft, the two carriers, the F-22s, the C-17s, the munitions, all of it positioned not to lead but to follow. Israel pulls the trigger. Iran retaliates. America enters as the defender, not the aggressor. The politics are a lot better.

This is not a military strategy. This is a liability structure. And Israel knows it, which is why JPost reports Israeli officials believe the US should lead, not follow. Both allies want the other to go first. That hesitation is the most dangerous variable in the entire crisis.

Meanwhile in Geneva today, Araghchi arrived saying a deal has a “good outlook.” The talks are ongoing. No outcome. No breakthrough. No collapse. Just process, buying hours while the architecture outside the negotiating room grows by the day.

Now here is the dimension that explains everything China is doing.

Every missile the United States fires at Iran is a missile it cannot fire at China. Fox News reported in December that the US could burn through key munitions in one week of conflict over Taiwan. The Pentagon’s own war games show critical shortfalls in long-range anti-ship missiles, precision-guided munitions, and interceptors. An Iran campaign consuming hundreds of Tomahawks and thousands of JDAMs directly degrades the stockpile earmarked for the Taiwan contingency.

China is not just arming Iran. China is not just photographing American bases. China is measuring whether the United States will commit irreplaceable munitions to a Middle Eastern conflict while the Taiwan Strait remains unwatched. Every JDAM dropped on Fordow is a JDAM absent from a Taiwan scenario. Every Tomahawk spent on Isfahan is a destroyer magazine that will not be full when it matters most.

Beijing is running a strategic stress test in real time. Arm the adversary. Map the force disposition. Publish it to degrade operational security. Then watch whether Washington depletes itself against a regional power while the peer competitor conserves everything.

Iran is the bait. Taiwan is the prize. And every satellite image China publishes is a page in the manual they are writing for what comes after.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The United States just deployed the one weapon system that tells you exactly what comes next.

11 F-22 Raptors landed at Ovda Airbase in Israel’s Negev Desert today. They flew from RAF Lakenheath in England, supported by seven aerial refueling tankers, covering thousands of miles to reach Israeli soil. One of the original twelve turned back with a suspected fuel leak.

The rest completed the transit and are now sitting on Israeli tarmac.

This has never happened before. Not during the ISIS campaign. Not during Blue Flag exercises. Not during Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025.

The F-22 Raptor, the most advanced air superiority fighter ever built, has never been based in Israel for a combat-oriented mission. Until today.

Now understand what the F-22 does, because it does not do what you think.
The F-22 does not bomb nuclear facilities. It does not carry bunker busters. It is not a strike aircraft.

The F-22 is a Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses platform. It kills the systems that protect targets. It neutralizes radar. It destroys surface-to-air missile batteries. It eliminates the S-300 and S-400 systems that Iran has spent decades layering around Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

The F-22 is not the punch. It is the hand that moves the shield out of the way so the punch can land.

Iran’s air defense architecture is the single obstacle between the B-2 Spirit bombers carrying 30,000-pound GBU-57 bunker busters and the centrifuge halls buried under 80 meters of granite at Fordow.

The F-22’s entire purpose in this theater is to carve a corridor through that architecture, blind Iranian radar, destroy missile batteries along the ingress route, and ensure the bombers reach their targets without being engaged.

When you deploy your SEAD package to the theater, you are not deterring. You are building the ingress corridor.

Only 195 F-22s were ever built.

Approximately 180 remain operational. The United States just committed 11 of them, roughly 6 percent of the entire operational fleet of its most valuable airframe, to a single base in southern Israel.

You do not forward-deploy 6 percent of an irreplaceable weapons system for signaling.

You deploy it because the mission it was designed for is approaching.

Now connect this to what is already in theater.

Two carrier strike groups with 150-plus aircraft. 500-plus total combat aircraft. 700 tonnes of munitions via C-17. 40 aerial refueling tankers.

Three AWACS for airborne command and control. A P-8A mapping the Strait of Hormuz. Every ship cleared from Bahrain. Hundreds evacuated from Al Udeid. The IRGC massing at the Iraqi border.

Khamenei’s shadow government activated. Modi landing in Israel tomorrow to collect alliance signatures. Geneva on Wednesday. The 48-hour deadline expiring before any of it begins.

And now the SEAD package has arrived.

There is a sequence to air campaigns that has not changed since Desert Storm. First, you position your strike aircraft. Done.

Second, you stage your munitions. Done.

Third, you deploy your tankers for sustained operations. Done.

Fourth, you establish airborne command and control. Done.

Fifth, you map the retaliation corridor. Done.

Sixth, you deploy your SEAD assets to suppress enemy air defenses along the ingress route.

That sixth step happened today.

The seventh step is the phone call.

Germany has advised its citizens in Israel to prepare for airspace closures. India told its citizens to leave Iran. The US Embassy in Beirut is evacuating. Khamenei is dispersing his leadership. Iran is practicing closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Everyone on every side of this conflict is preparing for the same event. The only people not preparing are the ones who think this is still about deterrence.

The F-22s are not in Israel to deter. They are in Israel to clear the sky. And you only clear the sky when something is about to fly through it.

[neoplacebo]

Later today, trump will convene his Bored of Peace. That'll fix it.

[Whack9]

UK embassy staff withdrawn from Iran

https://news.sky.com/story/uk-governmen ... n-13512938

Is it going down this weekend?

[Sometime Lefty]

I don't know who wrote this but it is not true. The F 22 is an air superiority fighter. The F35c is the plane that goes in unobserved and maps all emissions from radar and lets the ground attack planes ( wild weasel and growlers first) know where and what the targets are. Both the f22 and the F35c can only carry 2 ground attack or air to air weapons inside the plane for stealth.