Debussy

This story is 100% FAKE NEWS.  CNN decided to run this garbage based on three anonymous “sources familiar with discussions.”   This is despite the fact that myself, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of State, and multiple lawmakers (who were actually present for the recent classified briefing) have directly disputed this false reporting.  THE TRUTH: The Pentagon has been planning for Iran’s desperate and reckless closure of the Strait of Hormuz for DECADES, and it has been part of the Trump Administration’s planning well before Operation Epic Fury was ever launched.  The idea that Chairman Cain and Secretary Hegseth weren’t prepared for this possibility is PREPOSTEROUS. The President was fully briefed on it, and a goal of the Operation itself, to annihilate the terrorist Iranian regime’s navy, missiles, drone production infrastructure, and other threat capabilities is quite literally intended to deprive them of their ability to close the Strait. President Trump will not allow rogue Iranian terrorists to stop the freedom of navigation and the free flow of energy. Wiping out these terrorists who indiscriminately target civilians and attempt to hold the global economy hostage is part of the ongoing noble U.S. mission. The Fake News is working overtime to discredit President Trump, his Administration, and our U.S. Military, all of whom are working 24/7 to eliminate the threat of the Iranian regime. It’s a complete disgrace to witness this from the media, and we will keep fighting back against it.

Military analysts say reopening the Strait of Hormuz may require a ground operation to seize parts of Iran’s coastline - WSJ

This sounds like classic Trump hyperbole and bluster, but no. He's actually being quite literal here. Strikes so far have been limited to the pillars of Velayat control. The pillars of state and civilization themselves are still very much available and very easy to reach. Power plants and electrical grids, for example, are very easily destroyed. A simple power distribution system would take 3-7 years to rebuild; a full electrical system with redundancies and a capacity equal to that of today—that would take over a decade. There are about 400 power generation units in Iran—the battle group in the Gulf can legitimately destroy this in about an hour. I'd estimate they can output that many TLAMs alone in that time. Iran has ~10 oil refineries. Refineries are extremely hard and expensive to build, but relatively easy to destroy; that's what makes them such prime military targets. The battlegroup can absolutely destroy all of these in under an hour. Absent any interruption of power, it would take Iran more than a decade to restore to current throughout. Absent power, considerably longer. Trump isn't exaggerating. The United States still has many arrows in its quiver that can genuinely set Iran back decades in less than an hour. And that's only looking at oil refinement and electrical grids. I get the impression that most of the public genuinely has no idea how much damage a single Carrier Strike Group can do.

BREAKING | Iran's IRGC Aerospace Force commander Majid Mousavi says Iran will only launch missiles with warheads exceeding one ton going forward, announcing that the frequency, scale, and scope of missile waves will increase.

Tehran is covered in thick black clouds of smoke this morning after a series of Israeli airstrikes struck multiple oil depots and a refinery. Locals report that the morning rain was black and oily.

NEW - FBI record contained in the Epstein Files reveals that the FBI's NYC office was "hacked" in 2023, the night of the Superbowl, erasing some 100TB of data from evidence due to the intrusion.