The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1922-reasons-for-the-war-in-iran-explained-in-5-minutes">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
Many people are debating the war with Iran from an ideological perspective.
You’re an interventionist. 
You’re an isolationist. 
You’re America First. 
You’re a war-monger. 
You’re a peacenik.
And right now, these ideological camps are screaming past each other. The isolationists say we should never get involved in foreign wars under any circumstances. The war hawks say America must confront evil regimes wherever they arise. But neither position settles the matter here.
That’s not what this is about.
The two questions, which most of us outside the government simply do not have answers to, are:
First: Was the threat posed by Iran really that great? 
Second: Can we effectively and efficiently install a friendly regime in Iran?
Those are the two questions. Everything else is noise.
If the threat from Iran was high and we believe we can easily install a pro-Western regime, then obviously, this was an awesome move and Donald Trump will go down as one of the greatest presidents in American history. Replacing this regime in Iran has been a high American priority since 1979.
If, on the other hand, the threat was exaggerated and America gets bogged down in an endless war, Trump will have destroyed his legacy and he will go down in much the same way as George W. Bush. That is a serious risk he is taking based on his confidence in the United States military and his confidence in his own statesmanship.
But even that isn’t enough.
The second question is just as important: Can we pull this off?
Can the United States remove the top of the Iranian regime and replace it with something stable, manageable, and at least not actively hostile? Can this be done efficiently, without becoming another Iraq? Without morphing into an endless occupation, a decades-long counterinsurgency, or a regional quagmire?
If the answer to both questions is yes — if the threat was high and the operation can be executed cleanly — then this could go down as one of the boldest and most successful foreign policy moves of our lifetimes. But if the threat was overstated, and if we get bogged down in an endless war, then President Trump will have risked everything. He will have tarnished the very legacy he built running against the Bush-era regime change disasters. That&#8217;s the gamble.
Notice what this debate is not about. It is not about whether America should ever intervene. It is not about spreading democracy to every corner of the globe. It is not about grand ideological crusades. It is about risk assessment.
And President Trump is a risk-taker.
When he says “no more stupid wars,” many people heard “no more wars.” But the emphasis was never on “wars.” It was on “stupid.” When he said “no more endless wars,” the emphasis was on “endless.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1922-reasons-for-the-war-in-iran-explained-in-5-minutes">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show on DailyWire+</a></h3>
This is not being pitched as Iraq 2.0. It is being pitched as a decisive, overwhelming, time-limited force.
The early days have been extremely successful. Military leadership decapitated. Key targets neutralized. A regime that has openly threatened American interests for decades suddenly thrown off balance.
But early success does not guarantee long-term success. A billion things could go wrong.
It can still spiral out of control. Internal Iranian power struggles could produce chaos rather than stability. Intelligence assessments could prove flawed. The costs could still grow and the timeline could stretch.
The president reportedly believes this will be a four- or five-week operation. Those are famous last words in American foreign policy. Every modern war has begun with confident timelines.
So, we are left with the two questions:
How real was the threat?
How feasible is the outcome?
If Iran’s regime truly posed a grave, escalating danger — and if the United States can remove and replace that regime without creating a vacuum — then this operation may reshape the Middle East in America’s favor. It could reset a declining geopolitical trajectory and reassert American strength.
If not, then this will look less like strategic genius and more like overreach.
The ideological shouting will continue. But the serious debate is narrower and more sober. It is not about whether one is a hawk or a dove. It is about whether this specific intervention meets the threshold of necessity and feasibility.
That is the test.

TOPSHOT-US-IRAN-CONFLICT-DEFENSE

Two Questions Decide Whether The Iran War Is Brilliant Or A Disaster

Conservatives

Donald Trump

Iran

Israel

Libertarianism

Michael Knowles

Middle East

Opinion

Pete Hegseth

U.S. Military

For decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran and its genocidal proxies have operated under the delusion that they could hide behind layers of &#8220;security&#8221; while plotting the destruction of Israel. This week, that illusion didn&#8217;t just crack — it was detonated.
The elimination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a precision strike on his Tehran compound is the crowning achievement of a multi-year intelligence campaign that proves Israel doesn&#8217;t just fight its enemies; it owns them.
The brilliance of the operation began not with a bomb, but with a lens. While the Iranian regime poured billions into regional terror, Israeli cyber-warriors were quietly hijacking the very infrastructure meant to keep Tehran secure. According to the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/bf998c69-ab46-4fa3-aae4-8f18f7387836">Financial Times</a>, Unit 8200 and Mossad hacked nearly every traffic camera in the Iranian capital years ago.
For the &#8220;loyal&#8221; bodyguards of the regime, a commute to the Pasteur Street compound was a mundane routine. For Israel, it was a data stream. Encrypted images flowed directly to servers in Tel Aviv, where complex algorithms built a &#8220;pattern of life&#8221; for every high-ranking official. Israel knew where these terrorists parked their cars, what time they grabbed coffee, and which routes they took to work. As one official put it, “We knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem. And when you know [a place] as well as you know the street you grew up on, you notice a single thing that’s out of place.”
By the time the order was given to strike, Israel didn&#8217;t just hit a building; they hit a specific room at a specific second because they had spent years watching the front door through the regime’s own cameras.
Israel’s intelligence has conducted other vaunted operations recently, of course, the kind of psychological and tactical warfare that belongs in the history books, such as the &#8220;Beeper Operation.&#8221; Understanding that Hezbollah and Tehran were becoming paranoid about smartphone tracking, Israel decided to give them <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-details-emerge-on-how-israel-got-booby-trapped-pagers-walkie-talkies-into-hezbollahs-hands?utm_source=chatgpt.com">exactly what they wanted</a>: a &#8220;secure,&#8221; low-tech alternative.
In a sting operation of biblical proportions, Mossad created a &#8220;pretend world&#8221; of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-mossad-agents-reveal-how-they-tricked-hezbollah-into-buying-pagers-walkie-talkies?utm_source=chatgpt.com">shell companies</a> and fake supply chains. They didn&#8217;t just intercept a shipment; they manufactured the devices. Hezbollah thought they were buying rugged, waterproof Apollo pagers from Taiwan. In reality, they were distributing 5,000 Israeli-made bombs directly to their mid-level commanders.
The ingenuity was ruthless. To read an &#8220;encrypted message,&#8221; a user had to press two buttons simultaneously with both hands. When the signal was sent, the terrorists&#8217; hands were neutralized. Moments later, a second signal detonated the remaining devices, often while they were in the pockets of the targets.
When the survivors panicked and retreated to their &#8220;backup&#8221; walkie-talkies — devices Israel had surreptitiously sold them a decade earlier—the Mossad simply pressed another button. Entire rooms of terrorists were neutralized by the very equipment they trusted to keep them safe.
By turning Tehran’s cameras against the Ayatollah and turning Hezbollah’s communications into claymores, Israel has sent a message to its enemies: We are watching you through your own cameras. We are listening through your own devices.
And when the time comes, we don&#8217;t even need to be in the room to finish the job.

tehran_cyber_montage

Before The Bombs Fell, Israeli Cyber-Warriors Had Hacked Into Tehran’s Infrastructure For Years

Their Cameras, Our War: Israel Hacked Every Traffic Camera In Tehran For Years

Tehran

traffic cameras

We are on day three of President Trump&#8217;s military operation in Iran.
It&#8217;s the most courageous military decision of my lifetime, and we are kicking a**. The United States military and the Israeli military, working in tandem, are kicking the hell out of the Iranian government.
How is Iran planning to fight back? They have friends. They&#8217;re counting on pathetic, mewling Europeans and the ridiculous, sad sack Democrats who just hate Trump and don&#8217;t care about America winning.
But most of all, they&#8217;re counting on vicious, parasitical horseshoe right-wing isolationists to somehow convince the president to leave the battlefield. (If you wish to follow a movement led by closeted and not-so-closeted homosexuals, then I guess you could do that. Or perhaps these people are worth ignoring, because President Trump&#8217;s strength here has truly exposed the peddlers of horsesh*t on all sides).
Typically, there are a few reasons why you pursue military actions directed at the top of a regime. One is that there&#8217;s a direct attack from that regime upon you.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2378-sub?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Did Iran attack us? The answer is that since 1979, the number of American deaths that have been caused by Iran and by its proxy terrorist groups amounts to at least 1,000 dead, plus a couple of attempted assassinations on the president of the United States.
We are talking about military personnel. We are talking about diplomats. If you include Afghanistan, where Iran was shipping IEDs into Afghanistan to help the Taliban, you&#8217;re talking about at least 1,500 deaths.
But if you go all the way back to 1979, when the ayatollahs took over during the Iranian Revolution, the first thing that students did was to take American hostages at the embassy and hold them for over 400 days. Then, in 1983, the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah attacked the U.S. embassy and the Marine barracks in Lebanon. The total dead in those two attacks alone: 258.
Moving forward to 1988, the harassment of American shipping in the waterways around Iran led the United States to sink the entire Iranian navy in Operation Praying Mantis. Then, throughout the 1990s, Iran pursued a nuclear weapon. They began spreading their terror tentacles all over the Middle East by building up their terror proxy groups.
The United States at that point had a dual containment policy toward Iran and Iraq, because Iraq was run by the tyrant Saddam Hussein, and Iran was being run by the ayatollahs. They hated one another. They engaged in a decade-long war in the 1980s in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed. The United States&#8217; policy was to keep both of those contained.
It was only semi-successful. In 1996, the bombing of the Khobar Towers by the Iranian-supported Hezbollah in Saudi Arabia killed 19 Americans. In 2000, the bombing of the USS Cole off of Yemen by Al-Qaeda, supported largely by Iran, killed 17, and then, of course, from 2003 to 2011, after the breakdown of the Iraqi government after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iranian-backed militias took over large swaths of Iraq, or at least resisted American rule of Iraq, and killed somewhere between 600 and 1100 American soldiers.
Meanwhile, Iran was seeking nuclear weapons, spreading its terror tentacles to Lebanon, to Syria, to Gaza, which culminated on October 7, 2023, when Hamas, an Iranian-sponsored terror group, killed 1,200 Israeli citizens, took 250 hostage, and prompted a seven-front war on Israel, which ended with Israel basically destroying many of the proxy arms of the Iranian government.
All of that finally culminated with President Trump in 2025. You&#8217;ll recall the 12-day war when there was a direct attack by the Israelis on the Iranians following multiple rounds of missiles shot by Iran directly at Israel. Israel went in to try to take out their nuclear facilities as well as their ballistic missile facilities. In 12 days, Israel established air dominance and virtually destroyed the entire air defense system of Iran. At the end, President Trump authorized Operation Midnight Hammer to strike the Fordow nuclear facility and take out their nuclear weapons.
Since 1979, Iran has been unendingly, unceasingly antagonistic toward the United States and its allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain.
Iran is a threat to civilization. This is a point that President Trump made, declaring, “They have waged war against civilization itself.”
One of the beautiful things about being an isolationist is that you always get the counterfactual on your side. You always get to say a military intervention “went wrong.” But there are many counterfactuals in which actual preemptive war-making might have stopped true genocidal intent. There are so many instances of this throughout history that it boggles the mind.
Whether you&#8217;re talking about the rise of the Russian revolutionaries in the aftermath of the fall of the czar in 1917, what would have happened if the West had had the courage to stop the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia? A totally different map for an entire century; World War II doesn&#8217;t happen. What would have happened if the West had had the strength to stop the rearmament of Hitler? What would have happened if the West had taken out Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the USS Cole instead of ignoring the threat?
A targeted action can provide a serious upside and limited downside. That is the counterfactual that we should be looking at right now. The only counterfactual is not Iraq or Vietnam. Sometimes there are other counterfactuals to examine as well.
That is what President Trump was saying yesterday. He said that the goal here is to ensure security for generations.
Trump is stepping into the breach. He is smartly recognizing opportunity when it arises, and he is taking strong steps to protect America&#8217;s future and not only the future of our allies, but the future of the globe.
That’s because if the United States does nothing after the president draws a red line, if Iran continues to rebuild its facilities, if Iran continues to act as the linkage, both in terms of oil and weaponry between China and Russia, the chances that America&#8217;s enemies go on the offensive are so much higher than if they look at America and realize you don&#8217;t screw around with the president of the United States.
Step one in this process was to prevent the external threats from the regime, and decapitating the regime is a great way to do that. The second step is the replacement of the regime. It is not the job of the United States to pick the next Iranian government. It&#8217;s up to the Iranian people to pick their leader.
But when we talk about the spread of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, it turns out that Iran exporting its ideology all over the world is a threat that our president understands.
And unlike his predecessors, he acted on it.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump: The Man Who Stepped Into The Breach

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Ben Shapiro

While many in his party continue to criticize President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration over the execution of Operation Epic Fury — joint strikes with Israel against the Iranian regime — Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has thrown his full support behind the president in this case, and is &#8220;baffled&#8221; by those who haven&#8217;t.
Fetterman, who has carved out a very pro-Israel position since his election to the U.S. Senate, voiced his support for Trump&#8217;s actions — at least as far as Iran was concerned — in a series of posts on X.
&#8220;Love it,&#8221; he said in response to a Monday New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/02/us-news/trump-wont-rule-out-sending-us-troops-into-iran-if-necessary-tells-the-post-i-dont-care-about-polling/">interview</a> in which Trump had claimed that the operation was already &#8220;right on schedule, way ahead of schedule in terms of leadership — 49 killed — and that was, you know, going to take, we figured, at least four weeks, and we did it in one day.&#8221;
&#8220;Not sure why it’s controversial to anyone to appreciate and celebrate wiping out 49 leaders of one of the most evil regimes in recorded history,&#8221; Fetterman <a href="https://x.com/SenFettermanPA/status/2028516757887979981">added</a>.
Just a few hours earlier, he&#8217;d called out others in the Senate — all of whom agreed that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon and some of whom had long called for someone to bring an end to the tyrannical and oppressive regime in Iran — and asked why some, primarily in his own party, still steadfastly refused to support an administration that was serious about doing just that.
&#8220;Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/SenFettermanPA/status/2028482183065653587">he said</a>. &#8220;Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?&#8221;
Even as the joint operation began on Saturday, the Pennsylvania Senator was quick to voice his unequivocal support for the Trump administration&#8217;s actions.
&#8220;Operation Epic Fury. President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region. God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel,&#8221; he <a href="https://x.com/SenFettermanPA/status/2027674658091204808">posted</a>.
And when it was confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei was among the 49 leaders killed during the initial strikes, Fetterman&#8217;s response was clear: &#8220;Let’s see who grieves for that garbage.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Let’s see who grieves for that garbage. <a href="https://t.co/uhHpyXL7bR">https://t.co/uhHpyXL7bR</a>
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenFettermanPA/status/2027837565278048491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
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John Fetterman

‘Baffled’ By His Party’s Response, Fetterman Cheers Trump, Israel As They Pummel Iran: ‘Love It!’

'Baffled' By His Party's Response, Fetterman Cheers Trump, Israel As They Pummel Iran: 'Love It!'

Global Politics

Iran Airstrike

Politics

As Israel faces mounting threats from rockets, drones, and mortar fire across multiple fronts following the weekend strikes on Iran, attention is turning to a new system poised to reshape modern air defense: Iron Beam.
Israel’s highly anticipated laser-based defense platform is expected to be delivered to the military by the end of the month, according to Israeli officials. The system is designed to intercept short-range rockets, mortar rounds, and unmanned aerial vehicles using a high-powered directed-energy beam rather than traditional interceptor missiles.
One of the most striking features of Iron Beam is its cost efficiency. Each laser interception is estimated to cost as little as $2 in electricity, a dramatic reduction compared to the interceptor missiles used by Israel&#8217;s existing layered defense systems — roughly $100,000 per missile fired by Iron Dome, which counters short-range rockets, and up to $1 million per interceptor launched by David&#8217;s Sling, designed to defeat longer-range missiles and aircraft.
Iron Beam, first <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/rafael-unveils-laser-shield-at-premier-defense-show/">revealed</a> to the public in 2014, has been heralded as the future of air defense and is capable of intercepting the ever-growing threat of suicide drones, unguided rockets, and even traditional kinetic ordnance such as mortars and artillery. Iron Beam was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the same firm behind Iron Dome, in partnership with U.S.-based defense giant Lockheed Martin. The system consists of an air defense radar, a command and control unit, and two High Energy Laser (HEL) systems, enabling it to track and destroy incoming threats at the speed of light.
According to publicly available material from <a href="https://www.rafael.co.il/system/iron-beam/">Rafael</a>, Iron Beam is designed to integrate into Israel’s existing multi-layered air defense architecture, complementing systems such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow. While missile interceptors remain essential for higher-altitude and long-range threats, a directed-energy platform offers a potentially transformative solution against short-range projectiles and drone swarms, particularly in scenarios involving sustained, high-volume attacks.
According to <a href="https://www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org/defense-systems/iron-beam/">missile defense analysts</a>, Iron Beam is intended to relieve pressure on Iron Dome by handling lower-end threats, reserving expensive interceptors for more complex or long-range attacks. The system has reportedly demonstrated successful interceptions, particularly short trajectory targets during extensive testing, though operational details remain classified.
These missile defense analysts have also long argued that directed-energy weapons represent the next phase of air defense evolution. Unlike traditional systems that require physical interceptors and complex resupply chains, laser platforms can, in principle, operate indefinitely as long as power is available, eliminating reloads and significantly reducing per-shot costs.
The technology is also reportedly being shared with the U.S. Army’s directed energy program, according to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/israel-unveils-iron-beam-laser-weapon-while-achieving-record-15b-arms-sales">Fox News</a>, underscoring growing American interest in laser-based air defense capabilities.
While questions remain about operational constraints, including weather limitations and line-of-sight challenges, Iron Beam’s imminent fielding marks a major milestone in the development of practical battlefield laser systems. If it performs as advertised, it could fundamentally alter the cost calculus of missile defense and provide Israel with a powerful new tool to counter the increasingly sophisticated arsenal of Iranian-backed proxy groups.

Iran fires missiles at Israel

What Is Iron Beam? The Israeli Laser Defense System Explained

Hezbollah

Iron Dome

At 3:38 p.m., President Donald Trump gave the order to strike Iran.
&#8216;Operation Epic Fury&#8217; was set in motion.
Less than an hour later on Friday, standing on the tarmac in Corpus Christi, Texas, Trump faced the press — calm, relaxed, completely unreadable.
A reporter asked him point-blank: “How close are you to making a decision on strikes?”
Trump smiled.
“I’d rather not tell you,” he said. “You would have had the greatest scoop in history, right?”
What the world didn’t know: the decision had already been made.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
President Trump gave the order for Iran strikes at 3.38pm, Gen. Caine says. Trump was on Air Force One at the time, along with the press pool, shortly before landing in Corpus Christi, Texas. At about 4.29pm my pool colleague <a href="https://twitter.com/BernieDebusmann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BernieDebusmann</a> asked him: ‘How close are you to… <a href="https://t.co/2t4uLzJNK2">pic.twitter.com/2t4uLzJNK2</a>
— Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) <a href="https://twitter.com/dannyctkemp/status/2028466599187960227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
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According to Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Trump had authorized the strikes while still aboard Air Force One. By the time he stepped onto the Texas runway, the machinery of war was already turning. Jets were moving. Plans were unfolding. Iran’s evil regime was hours away from feeling the full force of Operation Epic Fury.
And Trump gave nothing away.
No dramatic tone. No visible tension. No slip of the tongue.
He delivered remarks. He greeted supporters. He even stopped at Whataburger.
Behind the scenes, one of the most consequential military operations in decades was about to begin.
It was a masterclass in restraint — a president holding the winning hand while the cameras rolled, never flinching, never tipping the table.
Hours later, the strikes would land.
The main target? Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the joint United States-Israel operation. The 86-year-old ayatollah, who ruled Iran for more than three decades and consolidated near-total authority over the judiciary, state media, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was eliminated alongside more than 40 senior regime figures and military commanders.
Among those confirmed killed were Khamenei’s top security adviser Ali Shamkhani, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Khamenei’s chief military secretary Mohammad Shirazi, head of military intelligence Saleh Asadi, and senior figures tied to Iran’s nuclear research apparatus.
Israeli officials said opening waves of Operation Epic Fury decimated the regime’s chain of command. The strike triggered an immediate succession crisis inside Tehran. Under Iran’s constitution, an interim council assumes authority while the Assembly of Experts selects a new supreme leader — but with key leadership figures dead, the path forward is uncertain.
President Trump celebrated Khamenei’s death on Truth Social, calling him “one of the most evil people in History” and describing the killing as “justice” for Americans and others killed by Iran over decades of terrorism and proxy warfare. He said the United States intelligence played a direct role in tracking the ayatollah, writing that Khamenei “was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems.”
Trump warned that bombing would continue “uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary” to achieve what he called the goal of “peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world.”

Trump

The Moment Trump Refused To Blink In Front Of The World — Minutes After Ordering Epic Fury

Executive

Israel isn’t just striking Iran — it’s staring down thousands of Hezbollah rockets and daring the terror group to try.
As Operation Epic Fury targets Iran’s missile and military infrastructure, Israeli intelligence officials say Hezbollah still retains significant firepower. According to two officials who spoke to Fox News, the terror group has between 11,000 and 12,000 rockets and missiles remaining in its arsenal.
Roughly 5,500 to 6,000 of those are believed to be within range of Israel.
That’s about one-fifth of Hezbollah’s pre-war firepower — a dramatic reduction — but still enough to threaten civilian population centers, including parts of central Israel. Hundreds of the remaining weapons are medium-range missiles capable of reaching deep into the country.
And Israeli officials say Hezbollah isn’t backing down.
“They are actually trying to increase their capabilities,” one intelligence official said. “Both in the fire capabilities with rockets and rocket launchers, and ground units that they still have.”
In short, even after taking heavy losses, the Iran-backed group is trying to rebuild.
The warning comes as Israel expands its campaign following Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.–Israel strike aimed at dismantling Iran’s missile and nuclear infrastructure. Israeli leaders have described the mission as controlled and decisive — not a regime-change war and not an endless conflict — while making clear they prepared for retaliation from Tehran’s proxy network.
That includes Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s government says it is committed to the ceasefire framework brokered in part through U.S. diplomacy during President Donald Trump’s tenure.
Hezbollah terrorists appear to be operating outside that framework.
Despite Lebanon’s stated commitment, the group has continued rocket activity and military positioning that Israeli officials say undermines the ceasefire and increases the risk of escalation.
For Israeli leaders, that is precisely why preparations were made ahead of Operation Epic Fury.
The posture from Jerusalem is straightforward: Israel knows exactly what Hezbollah has left — and it is prepared for it.

Hezbollah rocket Lebanon

Hezbollah Terrorists Down To A Fraction Of Their Arsenal — Here’s What Remains

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

President Trump

World

Israel is not waiting to be attacked — it is dismantling threats in real time.
As Israeli aircraft strike underground bunkers in Tehran, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed it is also targeting Hezbollah command centers and launch sites in Lebanon, warning the terror group it is entering a fight it cannot win.
An IDF official said the strikes against Hezbollah were part of preparations tied to the broader operation against Iran’s regime leadership and military infrastructure.
“We were ready for this,” the official said. “As part of the preparations for our operation in Iran, the IDF prepared for an attack from Hezbollah, allowing us to carry out a swift response.”
According to the IDF, retaliatory strikes hit Hezbollah command and control centers, launch sites, and what the official described as senior terrorists embedded within the organization’s operational network.
Israeli strikes inside Iran were still underway.
“As I am speaking right now, our aircraft are striking targets in Iran, including Tehran,” the official said, noting that underground bunkers tied to the regime are among the targets.
The objective, the IDF stressed, is to eliminate threats before they reach Israeli civilians.
“We are operating to eliminate any threats to our civilians, and will continue doing so,” the official added.
The warning to Hezbollah was blunt.
“Hezbollah is entering a fight it cannot win.”
The escalation comes after the unprecedented joint U.S.–Israel operation targeting Iranian regime assets, a move that military analysts have long warned could trigger retaliation from Tehran’s proxy network — particularly Hezbollah, which maintains a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
As the military campaign unfolds, a political voice long in exile is positioning himself for what could follow.
Appearing on Fox &amp; Friends, Reza Pahlavi — the exiled crown prince of Iran — thanked President Donald Trump for giving Iran a chance to take his country back, while signaling he is ready to return to Iran and help lead a democratic transition should the regime collapse.
“If you were to give me the opportunity to say to the Iranian people and the world, when is it that I go back there?” Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, said. “It will be the first minute I get the opportunity to do that. And that has to be, of course, orchestrated properly.”
He added that he is prepared to return.
“I’m ready to go there as soon as possible. I would like to be there, whether it is before the regime collapses or right after the regime collapses. It is important for me to be among my compatriots to fight the final battle and bring it to fruition.”
Pahlavi has pledged that any transition would involve free and fair elections and a democratic system of government.
For now, however, the battlefield remains active. Israeli aircraft continue striking Iranian regime targets while signaling to Hezbollah that escalation will be met immediately.
The message from Israeli officials is clear: retaliation was anticipated, preparations were made, and the response is already underway.

israel_hezbollah

Blunt Warning To Hezbollah Terrorists As Israel Widens War Footing

Fireballs obliterating defense sites, plumes of black smoke twisting into the Tehran skyline, and precision strikes flashing across the darkness — dramatic new footage released by the Israel Defense Forces shows what it says was a rapid seizure of air superiority over the Iranian capital within 24 hours of launching a joint assault with the United States.
The IDF says the Israeli Air Force carried out more than 700 sorties and unleashed thousands of munitions in a sweeping campaign designed to dismantle Iran’s military infrastructure at speed and scale.
“The Air Force cleared the way to Tehran within 24 hours,” the IDF said, adding that Israeli aircraft have been operating “with air superiority in the skies over Tehran” in recent hours.
The video shows fighter jets lifting off for strike missions, explosions ripping through Iranian air defense systems, and thick columns of smoke rising from targeted sites across the city. Interceptor missiles can also be seen streaking skyward as Israeli forces knock down waves of unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Iran toward Israeli territory.
According to the IDF, targets struck include ballistic missile launchers, military headquarters, air defense batteries, and command centers tied to what Israel describes as the Iranian regime’s terror apparatus.
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The Israel Defense Forces says it is striking targets in Tehran, releasing video strikes on defense systems. <a href="https://t.co/4JmoS5F53u">pic.twitter.com/4JmoS5F53u</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/2028181310435422663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
At the same time, Israel’s multi-layered air defense network — including the Iron Dome system, which intercepts incoming aerial threats mid-flight — working alongside fighter jets and attack helicopters, has knocked down Iranian drones since the beginning of the operation, the military said.
The air campaign unfolds as part of a broader joint offensive between Israel and the United States targeting Iranian military assets across multiple fronts. President Donald Trump announced that United States forces, operating alongside Israel, have sunk multiple Iranian naval vessels and largely obliterated Tehran’s naval headquarters, signaling a coordinated push to degrade Iran’s land, air, and sea capabilities simultaneously.
Securing air superiority over a capital of nearly nine million people in less than a day marks a significant escalation. Control of the skies allows for sustained precision strikes and limits Iran’s ability to contest operations from above.
Israel says strikes in Tehran are ongoing, with additional attacks carried out in the heart of the city in recent minutes against remaining defense systems.
Iran has responded by launching drones and vowing retaliation, setting the stage for further exchanges as the confrontation intensifies.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bottom-of-the-sea-trump-declares-irans-navy-is-finished?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Jordan+Schroeder&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=‘Bottom+Of+The+Sea’%3A+Trump+Declares+Iran’s+Navy+Is+Finished">‘Bottom Of The Sea’: Trump Declares Iran’s Navy Is Finished</a>

WATCH: Israeli Air Blitz Rocks Tehran As U.S.-Backed Offensive Redoubles Attacks

Military

Operation Epic Fury is underway, and the so-called Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, is dead. Despite the histrionics from the Left and right-wing podcasters who warned about Trump initiating a military attack: there will be no World War 3. The myth of inevitable and uncontrolled escalation has once again been busted. The United States has agency and can decide on its terms when to initiate a military campaign with clearly defined and achievable military and political objectives.
The United States and Israel, together, are carrying out a sophisticated, multi-pronged military campaign. President Trump laid out U.S. objectives. Because the Iranian regime refused to end its ideologically motivated hostilities against the United States and its allies, and would not eliminate its dangerous nuclear missile program, the United States will eliminate the threats posed by the Islamic Republic. Operation Epic Fury will: “raze” the regime’s missile industry, “annihilate”  the Iranian navy, hit Iranian nuclear facilities, and “ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces.”
And while Epic Fury is overwhelming the regime’s ability to respond, Iran’s backers, China and Russia, are not coming to its rescue.
China buys more than 80% of Iranian oil and has been aiding Iran’s efforts to rebuild its air defenses after the United States and Israel’s successful campaign to wipe them out and establish air dominance last summer. Russia has been a longtime partner in arms dealing with Iran. Russian leaders condemned the U.S. attack on Iran, just as they condemned the U.S. operation to arrest the illegal dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. But in both cases, the Russians were as feeble to help their authoritarian friends as their air defenses were to thwart American special forces.
And although the now-eliminated Khamenei believed he was the leader of the entire Muslim world, Muslim nations that host American forces have condemned Iranian aggression and sided with America. As of now, more than 24 hours since the start of the attack, Iran’s missiles and drones have been smaller in scale than the previous offenses over the last two years, and the United States and Israel have total supremacy of the skies in Iran. President Trump did warn the American people that in this campaign, there is a risk that there may be some casualties in service of this noble mission to protect Americans and to end the reign of Islamist terror.
Over the decades of the Islamic Republic’s iron fist, the regime trained, armed, and funded terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East. Those Islamist proxies have murdered and maimed Americans, thwarted and threatened global shipping, and, in recent years, tried to assassinate Americans, including President Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served in the first Trump administration and supported the successful operation that eliminated Qassam Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force. And lest we forget, when U.S. forces were searching for Al Qaeda terrorists after their attacks on Americans on September 11, <a href="https://ge.usembassy.gov/the-iran-al-qaida-axis/">Iran provided Al Qaeda</a> sanctuary.
After the formal confirmation of the Islamist dictator’s death, Trump posted on Truth Social: &#8220;This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,&#8221; and said Khomeini’s elimination is justice, &#8220;not only for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans&#8221; killed or harmed by the regime. Bibi Netanyahu sent the Iranian people the same message: “This is an opportunity, do something. Do not sit with your arms crossed,” he said. “You have to complete this work and you have to bring down and eradicate this regime.”
Under the direction of Khamenei and his loyalists, the regime brutally repressed the Iranian people. Just weeks ago, it slaughtered over 32,000 innocent young people who opposed the regime in defiance of President Trump’s direct order to the regime not to kill protesters, drawing a bright red line. He then encouraged the protesters to persevere in their protests against the regime and issued a promise to the Iranian people that the United States would send help.
Trump has now enforced that red line and, with Netanyahu, is delivering the conditions for the Iranian peoples&#8217; liberation. But the Iranian people must take over control of their own government and their future. Trump made that clear and continues to send that message. The most realistic path forward for a transition government to emerge is through the formation of a coalition of factions within Iran, including those who defect from the Iranian police force, the standing Army, and even the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Trump offered defectors <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5760902-trump-offers-immunity-iran-forces/">immunity</a> if they were to lay down their arms, a great alternative to executions and civil war.
Over the next few days, the United States and Israel will carry out more attacks, hunting missile launchers and destroying the facilities where new nuclear weapons activity was ongoing. There is uncertainty about the duration of the campaign. It should not be surprising if it ends in a matter of days or a couple of weeks, but only once the will of the remaining regime leaders is broken. Only then can the Iranian people take their country back, and in doing so, bring greater peace to the Middle East and to the detriment of the Islamic Republic&#8217;s authoritarian backers and to the benefit of America and its allies.
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs is a senior fellow and director of the Keystone Defense Initiative. She specializes in US national defense policy with a focus on strategic deterrence.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

9d211218c5c87d21367858bc8f13d41fe03ae99c670765318f5409cce2fa5744

Why A Dead Ayatollah Won’t Lead To World War 3

China

Russia

Covering global conflict is my job as The Daily Wire’s foreign affairs correspondent. But from Friday at sundown until Saturday night — roughly 25 hours each week — I step away completely. I’m an Orthodox Jew, and each week on Shabbat, I don’t use any electricity, including my phone.
At sundown tonight, I logged on to find a very different reality in the Middle East than I left. If you’ve been following The Daily Wire’s coverage all day, you know that, early this morning, the United States and Israel struck Iran. But if you need a refresher, here are the 7 updates that got me up to speed.
1. Operation Epic Fury Hits Hard
Precision munitions rained down from land, air, and sea in the opening hours, hitting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command-and-control centers, Iranian air defenses, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. According to U.S. Central Command, the strikes began at 1:15 a.m. ET, and CENTCOM called Operation Epic Fury the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation.
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2. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei Is Dead
Precision U.S. and Israeli strikes hit the Supreme Leader’s compound in the opening hours of the operation, killing Iran’s top ruler. He was 86, had led the country since 1989, and was only the second person to hold the post of supreme leader since the 1979 Iranian Revolution that brought a radical clerical regime to power. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump were shown images of Khamenei’s body after it was recovered.
President Trump called Khamenei “one of the most evil people in history” and said his death delivered justice for the people of Iran, for all great Americans, and for those around the world who suffered under him and his “gang of bloodthirsty thugs.” Khamenei had ruled tyrannically for decades, overseeing widespread oppression, including the violent crackdown on protesters that left an estimated 32,000 dead in January.
Trump added that the Supreme Leader could not evade the strike — despite any efforts to hide, highly sophisticated tracking systems, coordinated between the U.S. and Israel, made it impossible for him to escape.
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3. Iranians Encouraged To Take Fate Into Their Own Hands
After Khamenei was killed, President Trump called this “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country,” a moment that some Iranians appear to be marking with hope. Videos circulating on social media show cheers across Iran Saturday night following reports of the Supreme Leader’s death, including in <a href="https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/2027855269435163124">Tehran</a>, and videos emerging from <a href="https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/2027863800913727892">London</a> show members of the Iranian diaspora joining in the celebrations.
Trump added that many members of the IRGC, military, and other security forces reportedly no longer want to fight and are seeking immunity. He expressed hope that the IRGC and police could peacefully merge with Iranian patriots, working together to restore the country to what he described as its deserved greatness.
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4. Iran’s Retaliatory Strikes Across the Middle East
In retaliation following Khamenei’s death, Iran has launched missile and drone attacks across the region:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Israel: Multiple missile impacts, including in Tel Aviv.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Qatar: Missiles targeted Al Udeid Air Base.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">United Arab Emirates (UAE): Al Dhafra Air Base struck; one person killed in Abu Dhabi.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Bahrain: U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters and residential buildings targeted.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Kuwait: Kuwait International Airport and Ali Al Salem Air Base were attacked. All missiles were intercepted, though a drone hit Kuwait International Airport, causing minor injuries to employees.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Jordan: Muwaffaq Al-Salti Air Base targeted.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Iraq: U.S. Consulate in Erbil and Erbil Airport targeted by drones, which were shot down.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Saudi Arabia: Riyadh was targeted, but attacks were repelled.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Oman: Spared from attacks; the country had mediated nuclear negotiations as recently as Thursday.</li>
</ul>
 

5. The U.S. and Israel Are Operating in Full Coordination
The strikes on Iran were part of a coordinated military campaign between the United States and Israel. Strategic analysts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) note that the United States designated its part of the operation “Operation Epic Fury,” while Israel called its portion “Operation Lion’s Roar,” reflecting a division of labor that plays to each side’s strengths: Israel focusing on regime leadership and intelligence targets, and the United States using its superior firepower to strike missile silos and major military sites.
The level of coordination was clear in advance. In the days leading up to the strikes, American refueling tankers were stationed at Ben Gurion Airport, while combat fighter jets were on the runway in Israel for offensive operations for the first time.
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6. Top Iranian Officials Reportedly Killed 
In addition to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Israel claims several high-ranking Iranian figures were killed in the strikes, including:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s defense minister</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ali Shamkhani, head of the Iranian Security Council</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Saleh Asadi, intelligence official</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Hossein Jabal Amelian and Reza Mozaffari-Nia, research officials</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Mohammed Shirazi, longtime defense liaison</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
7. Trump Says Bombing Will Continue
President Trump warned that the air campaign in Iran isn’t ending anytime soon, saying heavy and precise strikes will keep going “throughout the week or as long as necessary” to achieve what he described as peace across the Middle East and beyond.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth echoed that stance, saying the United States will not tolerate missiles aimed at Americans and vowing that the Iranian navy “will be destroyed.”

Trump and Ayatollah

Catch Up On What Just Happened In Iran With Me

The exiled crown prince of Iran hailed the early morning strikes from the United States and Israel, saying the long-awaited American intervention means the Islamic Republic’s days are numbered.
In a forceful message to Iranians, Reza Pahlavi praised President Donald Trump for delivering what he called promised “aid” to the Iranian people and framed the joint operation as the opening blow in the regime’s collapse.
“Moments of destiny lie ahead of us,” Pahlavi wrote. “The aid that the President of the United States promised to the brave people of Iran has now arrived.”
He described the strikes as a humanitarian intervention aimed squarely at the regime’s “repressive apparatus” and “machinery of slaughter,” not the Iranian people.
But Pahlavi made clear that while American and Israeli firepower struck the regime’s military infrastructure, the final chapter belongs to Iranians themselves.
“Final victory will still be forged by our hands,” he wrote, signaling that the “time to return to the streets is near.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-iranian-protests-intensify-as-citizens-demand-end-to-ayatollah-rule?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+UPDATES%3A+United+States+And+Israel+Strike+Iran+In+‘Operation+Epic+Fury’">Follow The Daily Wire&#8217;s live-blog coverage of the U.S. strikes on Iran.</a>
Earlier on Saturday, President Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-delivers-direct-message-to-iranians-after-major-combat-operation-targets-ayatollah?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Delivers+Direct+Message+To+Iranians+After+%E2%80%98Major+Combat+Operation%E2%80%99+Targets+Ayatollah">urged</a> Iranians to overthrow their authoritarian regime after the United States finishes its operation.
“To the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump said. “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.”
Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah, who has lived in exile since the 1979 revolution, issued a similar call to Iranians. He said the Islamic Republic is collapsing and urged citizens to stay ready for what he called the “final action.” For now, he told supporters to remain in their homes and preserve their safety until he gives the signal.
He also issued a direct warning to Iran’s military and security forces: your oath is to Iran and its people — not to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Those who continue defending the regime, he warned, risk going down with “Khamenei’s sinking ship.”
Pahlavi thanked Trump directly, calling Iranians “natural allies” of the United States and the free world, and urged the president to exercise caution to avoid civilian casualties as operations continue.
With Iranian missile launches met by coordinated U.S.-Israel strikes on military targets, Pahlavi cast the moment as more than retaliation — but a rare opening to break the regime’s grip for good.
“We are very close to final victory,” he wrote. “Long live Iran.”

Reza Pahlavi

Exiled Iranian Prince Hails U.S. Assault, Says It Creates Rare Opening To Break Regime Grip

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