Tag Archives: Operation Epic Fury

Mar 3 2026

U.S. State Dept Urges All Americans to Depart Immediately From 14 High Risk Countries


Posted originally on CTH on March 2, 2026 | Sundance 

The U.S. State Department is now telling all U.S. Citizens from 14 middle east countries to make immediate plans to exit the region. These are not travel advisories, these are specific instructions to leave the region.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar posted on the social media site X that Americans in countries, including Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel, should “DEPART NOW” using any available commercial transportation.

The guidance comes as many major airlines have canceled flights to and from the region as the war that began when U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday. It has since grown into a wider regional conflict, touching nearly every country nearby.

A “boxcar effect” is now taking place.  As each day passes without airline flights available, more and more travelers are stuck in the region as their planned departure is cancelled.  What might begin day #1 as several thousand people stranded, can quickly become several tens of thousands in a few days.  The instructions to exit appear timed as an effort to avoid the numbers continuing to climb.  However, without airlines operating departures become problematic.

Mar 3 2026

Secretary of State Marco Rubio Holds a Press Conference on The Subject of Iran


Posted originally on CTH on March 2, 2026 | Sundance

When pressed on how long the U.S. military would remain focused on Iran, secretary of State Marco Rubio said as long as it takes. “The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,” he told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

“How long will it take? I don’t know how long it will take,” Rubio said. “We have objectives. We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives.”

“We would love for there to be an Iran that’s not governed by radical Shia clerics,” he said heading into a classified briefing on Capitol Hill. “That’s not the objective.” … “The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic missile capability and make sure they can’t rebuild it and make sure that they can’t hide behind that to have a nuclear program,” he said. “That’s the objective of the mission.”  WATCH:

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Mar 3 2026

The Biggest Surprise, So far, Within Operation Epic Fury


Posted originally on CTH on March 2, 2026 | Sundance

At least from my limited perspective, the biggest surprise coming from Operation Epic Fury so far is the counterstrike reaction from Iran toward the rest of the region.  I have reached out to several people about this, and everyone has a different response.

Within a few hours of the operation against Iran beginning, the Iranian regime began firing counterstrikes against the entire Arab region.  Instead of their traditional approach toward striking back at limited U.S. military bases in/around Iraq and/or Israel, Iran began firing missiles and drones into the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.

Brief recap map of the first 24 hours of attack sites, contrast with a map of known U.S. military bases.

This seemingly wanton striking out against the entire middle east region was not something CTH expected to see.

Additionally, the Iranian targets were not just limited to U.S. military bases, the missiles and drones were launching toward all kinds of random infrastructure throughout the Arab world.  Most of these missiles and drones have been intercepted; however, no one has yet established a reasonable thesis as to why Iran chose this approach.

In a recent interview with Jake Tapper, President Trump also said the White House and Pentagon were surprised at the civilian targets selected by Iran for retaliatory strikes.  The White House, State Dept and U.S. military did not expect to see Iran retaliate against regional allied partners, and the reaction has been for the Arab countries to be even more supportive of the attacks against Iran.

All of the Arab countries that seemingly would have sat on the sidelines and given tacit support, are now openly providing support and even expressing a willingness to get involved with their own military to assist.  This is a first.

That said, the action by Iran doesn’t change the approach the U.S. is taking, but it does beg the question: why are they doing it?

Again, these are not U.S. military installations being targeted; Iran isn’t just shooting missiles and drones at U.S. bases, they are targeting nonmilitary infrastructure and even civilian targets (hotels, apartment buildings, commercial real estate).

The expenditure of the Iranian counterstrike armament, the targets they are selecting, doesn’t gain Iran any material benefit.  So, why do it?

Any thoughts?

Jake Tapper notes President Trump has said “a big wave is yet to come,” meaning the U.S is prepared to launch another phase against Iran that will hit even harder than the current targeting of military assets and infrastructure.

I’m left to wonder if the regional targeting by Iran is strategic, or if their top tiers of military command structure were so devastated the local command centers were essentially left to use their own targeting decisions, and that led to a random set of launches at just about everything they could program as a target set.

However, a “big wave yet to come” might make sense, if you think about Iran’s seemingly wanton striking at every regional nation as probing to destroy radar capacity and air defenses.

If Iran is holding back strategic hypersonic missiles for later strikes after probing or degradation strikes, then yes as soon as those hypersonic launch locations surface there would need to be a massive blitz of overwhelming force to preempt the launches.

Essentially, what a person might call “a big wave yet to come.”

Mar 3 2026

President Trump Delivers Remarks on Iran During Opening of Medal of Honor Ceremony


Posted originally on CTH on March 2, 2026 | Sundance 

President Trump was previously scheduled to participate in a Medal of Honor ceremony, prior to the start of joint Operation Epic Fury in Iran. As the Medal of Honor event began this morning, President Trump delivered remarks about Iran.  WATCH (prompted):

As noted by President Trump the current operation continues degrading the Iranian war machine.  The U.S. and Israeli military are systematically taking down strategic targets inside Iran.  Simultaneously, the Iranian naval fleet is being targeted and continues to be destroyed.

As target packages are worked using a previous priority list, the U.S. operation continues from air and sea. Waves of missiles, drones, U.S. fighters and bomber aircraft as well as naval assets are continuing to bombard the Iranian military destroying their capacity to wage war.

Mar 3 2026

Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine Hold Pentagon Press Briefing – 8:00am Livestream


Posted originally on CTH on March 2, 2026 | Sundance 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan “Razin? Caine hold a Pentagon press briefing to discuss the U.S/Israel war against Iran.  The anticipated start time is 8:00am ET with livestream links below:

UPDATE: Video Added – Media Questions begin at 29:00 of the video 

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Mar 3 2026

Friendly Fire – Three U.S. F15 Fighter Jets “Crash” in Kuwait


Posted originally on CTH on March 2, 2026 | Sundance 

Several online videos have surface of U.S. F-15 pilots ejecting out of aircraft that were seemingly hit during combat operations.  According to most accounts the incidents took place over the skies of Kuwait and there are indications these were ‘friendly fire’ mistakes.

With all of the inbound drone, UAV, missile and ballistic missile activity it would not be a surprise to hear of Kuwaiti air defense forces accidentally targeting coalition or U.S. fighter jets that would be traversing the region.

All of the pilots are reported to be safe and with the assistance of the Kuwaiti government returning to their U.S. military bases.  Given the “fog of war” it is best to wait until details are released from the Pentagon.

UPDATE: Immediately after writing, this update appears from CENTCOM:

TAMPA, Fla. – At 11:03 p.m. ET, March 1, three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles flying in support of Operation Epic Fury went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident.

During active combat—that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses.

All six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition. Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation.

The cause of the incident is under investigation. Additional information will be released as it becomes available. (SOURCE)

Original:

From the AP: “Several U.S. warplanes crashed Monday in Kuwait, the country’s Defense Ministry said, with all the pilots safely bailing out.

The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crashes but it came during an intense period of Iranian fire targeting the country.

The Kuwaiti Defense Ministry said the pilots had been taken to a hospital for checkups and their condition was stable.  The U.S. military’s Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (source)

Statement from the Kuwait Ministry of Defense:

“The spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense stated that several U.S. military aircraft crashed this morning, confirming the complete safety of their crews.

He explained that the relevant authorities immediately initiated search and rescue procedures, whereby the crews were evacuated and transferred to the hospital to check on their health status and provide the necessary medical care, noting that their condition is stable.

The official spokesperson added that direct coordination was conducted with the friendly U.S. forces regarding the circumstances of the incident, and joint technical measures were taken.

He affirmed that the concerned authorities are following up on the investigations to determine the causes of the incident, calling for information to be obtained from its official sources.” (more)

Many of us want information so we can evaluate things. However, in the fog of war it is best to be prudent and await official information to understand the full context of what might have happened.