Steve Gamble - The Search For Truth

𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍'𝐒 '𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐒' 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐄𝐒 — 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐌 𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spent Tuesday bragging that it had k!lled American pilots and leveled U.S. bases across four countries. "𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮," CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said — before adding the line that actually mattered: "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘙𝘎𝘊." The exchange started Monday night, when Iran attacked civilian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and k!lled two Filipino crew members aboard the supertanker Sidr, a ship loaded with two million barrels of Saudi crude. CENTCOM answered Tuesday around noon Eastern with strikes on IRGC air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capability, and communications infrastructure — retaliation, the command said, for the Strait attack and for prior IRGC strikes on American service members in the region. Tehran's revenge, at least on paper, sounded apocalyptic: missiles and drones on Erbil, on Jordan's Prince Hassan Air Base, on the Marine barracks at Camp Tintin, and on airbases in the UAE and Bahrain. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the U.S. strikes a "𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦," insisting the "𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦... 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢'𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦." State media published the names of the dead and a photo of the wreckage. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫. The rest of Tehran's story falls apart the same way. Iran admits its own losses were light — four IRGC troops, three Basij militia members, a handful of civilians — while claiming its counterattack wiped out American pilots and Marines. Two U.S. officials say otherwise: 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐧. Jordan's own military sh∗t down ten of the thirteen ballistic missiles Iran fired at it; the rest landed in open desert. Kuwait's emergency crews put out a fire from an Iranian drone that hit a residential complex. Kurdish forces in Iraq intercepted ten explosive drones headed for Erbil. Nine months into a war it started, this is what Iran has left — a regime firing whatever's in the inventory at four different countries, k!lling almost nobody, then broadcasting a body count to its own people that isn't real. The two Filipino sailors on the Sidr remain 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐤!𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐀 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡.