The US-Iran War Has Begun

[Free]

Another one down.

Navy Secretary John Phelan fired from administration amid Iran war

The chief Pentagon spokesperson said Phelan would depart "effective immediately," without adding more details about why he was leaving.

www.nbcnews.com

Navy Secretary John Phelan will leave the Trump administration “effective immediately,” the Pentagon announced Wednesday, marking the latest departure of a top defense official this year.

 

[Free]

Scammers are faking lemonade out of pomegranates.

Crypto scam lures ships into Strait of Hormuz, falsely promising safe passage

Ship attacked by Iran after possibly falling for safe passage crypto scam.

arstechnica.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump's war on the global food supply

Just the latest moral and logistical atrocity.

iandunt.substack.com

 

[Noodles]

It would have been SOOOOO easy to just not pick fights with our allies for no fucking reason.

Yes but people needed to stop thinking about how Trump is a child rapist.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Sadly Trump didn't start a war on his own food supply...

 

[Cristiano]

 

[Sid]

Trump thinks he already has defeated Iran. Yup, right! BTW nice date for such a post: the 20th April is the birthday of Trump's Idol Adolf Hitler. Hooray!

It lacks some covfefe, no?

 

[Cristiano]

Al Jazeera exposes an Israeli company called "Generative Al for Good" that is creating entirely fake videos of Iranian women as victims of state oppression.

Trump shared Al-generated photos of Iranian women, claiming they were about to be executed until he saved them. But in reality those women were never exist

When you can't find real victims to justify your war, just invent them. And when you can't invent enough, use Al to scale the lie

 

[Cristiano]

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

NBC revealed that during the first days of the war the Iranian air force successfully bombarded Camp Buehring in Kuwait using old American F-5 (!) fighter jets. This type of jet developed during the 1950s and introduced in the early 60s was last used by America during the Vietnam war.

The jet hit its target despite the base having a multi layered defense of Patriot missiles, short-range interceptors, advanced radar coverage and persistent regional surveillance networks.

NBC’s April 25, 2026 reporting states that Iranian attacks damaged warehouses, aircraft hangars, command headquarters, satellite communications infrastructure, runways, advanced radar systems, and dozens of aircraft, with total repair costs expected to run into the billions of dollars.

While no official Pentagon battle damage assessment has been released publicly and no satellite imagery has been formally declassified to confirm the full scale of destruction, the classified reporting gap itself has intensified scrutiny among lawmakers and military planners assessing U.S. force posture vulnerabilities in the Gulf.

According to U.S. officials cited in reporting, the Iranian F-5 approached at low altitude and executed what was described as a “dumb bomb” attack, bypassing Patriot systems and short-range air defense networks that were expected to create overlapping interception zones.

This matters because Patriot batteries are optimized primarily for higher-end missile defense missions, while the integration of short-range interceptors and radar coverage should theoretically close vulnerabilities against low-level manned aircraft penetrations approaching from compressed warning windows.

The fact that an aging Iranian F-5 could exploit that gap raises serious doctrinal questions regarding radar horizon limitations, command-and-control reaction time, and the challenge of distinguishing fast low-altitude penetrators from routine airspace clutter in wartime conditions.

NBC did not confirm whether the F-5 survived the strike or was later destroyed, but the operational success of the bombing run itself already represents a strategic messaging victory for Tehran regardless of the aircraft’s eventual fate.

Iran’s F-5 Breaches U.S. Patriot Shield: Hidden Gulf Base Damage From Operation Epic Fury Could Cost Billions, Exposes Major American Vulnerability - Defence Security Asia

Iran’s F-5 fighter penetrated Patriot defenses and bombed a major U.S. base in Kuwait as NBC reveals far greater hidden damage from Iranian strikes during Operation Epic Fury. Billions in repairs, damaged aircraft, and exposed vulnerabilities are reshaping Gulf military strategy.

defencesecurityasia.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I think this is free to read

Trump Blinked

What It Could Mean

phillipspobrien.substack.com

Just to give you the exact timeline here it is:

April 19: Trump threatens Iran with Biblical destruction and death.

April 21: Trump backs down saying Pakistan asked him to be nice.

April 24: The White House Says Iran has asked for talks and they are hopeful.

April 24: Iran says it has not agreed to direct talks with the USA.

April 25: The Iranian FM leaves Pakistan before the US delegation can leave Washington.

April 25: A few hours later, Trump claims he has called off the talks and has all the “cards”.

April 26: The Iranian FM, having successfully thwarted direct talks with the USA as the Iranians always claimed they wanted, returned to Pakistan for talks without US representatives.

There we have it. It has been the Trump administration that has been all over the place, boasting, threatening, and yet showing how desperate it was for a deal—and ultimately achieving nothing. The Iranians simply did what they said they were going to do.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

If there's one thing Iran learned so far it is this: it doesn't need nuclear arms, because it has the Strait of Hormuz.