The night of February 28-March 1, 2026, will be remembered by all those who followed the news in real time. At 1:15 AM EST, seated in the White House Situation Room, US President Donald Trump said, “Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck.”
Those nine words signaled the launch of the largest US-Israeli military operation in decades. F-35 fighters, B-2 bombers, cruise missiles launched from ships in the Persian Gulf, and drones struck over 3,000 targets in Tehran, Natanz, Fordow, and other locations in Iran. The mission was to eradicate what remained of Iran’s nuclear program, dismantle the command structure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and as Trump later confirmed in a video address from Mar-a-Lago, “eliminate imminent threats” to the US from the Iranian leadership.
However, within hours, the situation changed. Iranian state television announced that “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has fallen a martyr due to the aggression of the Zionist and American enemy.” On March 2, CENTCOM reported the first casualties: six US service members were killed, four of whom were reservists from Iowa, young fathers and sons. As the US launched its strikes, polls painted a bleak picture: according to Reuters/Ipsos, only 27% of Americans supported the attacks, while YouGov showed a slightly higher 37% approval rating. A sense of déjà vu hung in the air – many remembered how America had once greeted the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and how, just a year later, the sight of flag-draped coffins became a sobering reality check.
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