Khamenei, One of Most Evil People in History, is Dead
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 05:42
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The War with Iran May Already be Lost
A war launched without a defined end state, sold through metrics and bravado, and blind to an enemy that measures time in generations rather than news cycles, is not a path to victory but a slow-motion admission of strategic failure.
By Robert Bruce Adolph | March 24, 2026
https://sofrep.com/news/the-war-with-iran-may-already-be-lost/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-war-with-iran-may-already-be-
lost/ar-AA1ZjauU
With special thanks to Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Timothy Grimmett.
If wars were won by bombastic press conferences, the White House should already be planning another military parade in our capital’s streets. In America’s latest war of choice, President Trump’s styled Secretary of “War” is emerging as the head cheerleader for our misadventure in Iran. Mr. Hegseth has already mistakenly defined what constitutes victory — the destruction of various portions of the Iranian Navy and military production facilities. Unfortunately, his definition is flawed. Despite possessing some military experience as a junior officer, he has shown that he is completely out of his depth. For most intents and purposes, the war with Iran might have been lost before the first missile was launched.
Some of the lessons that Mr. Hegseth should have learned by now:
Operational excellence is not a guarantee of strategic success — The best military on the planet cannot win a war if the national strategic objectives selected by the National Command Authority are faulty. This fact was proven in both Afghanistan and Iraq, which like Iran, were wars of choice and not necessity. Does Mr. Hegseth grasp the gap between his definition of victory and that of his boss?
Mr. Trump has demanded “unconditional surrender” of Iran — That choice could cost many lives. America demanded unconditional surrender of both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The word “unconditional” suggests that there will be no negotiated settlement. The only means of achieving that objective in Germany and Japan was first a land invasion of the “Father Land” followed by the deployment of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Is this where we are heading?
The best bosses remain always open to bad news — If the boss always demands good news, good news is all that his subordinates will present to him. Mr. Hegseth only wants to focus on the number of strikes; the number of aircraft involved; and the number of targets destroyed. These figures no doubt please this Oval Office. Tragically, war by the numbers was a loser in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The numbers say nothing about an enemy’s will to resist. The senior uniformed staff in the Pentagon all know this fact. A smarter press corps would be asking what is the US strategy if Iran’s military is destroyed and the mullahs simply refuse to surrender?
Know your enemy — Mr. Hegseth also lacks a fundamental understanding of his opponent. He desperately needs a briefing on the 680CE Battle of Karbala because it is the foundational, emotional, and ideological cornerstone of Shia Islam, transforming it from a political faction into a distinct religious identity centered on martyrdom, justice, and resistance against oppression. The clerical leadership’s default position is death before surrender.
If that isn’t bad enough…
Air strikes often harden the resistance of your adversary — Every senior American military commander knows that bombing alone cannot force an enemy to give up. In fact, strikes from the air are proven to do the reverse based on our conventional non-nuclear bombing experience in WWII, and the protracted “arc light” bombing campaign in Vietnam.
One other thing — Mr. Hegseth recently stated that “no quarter” and “no mercy” is to be given in the current conflict. These statements are contrary to both US and international law — something to think hard about. More to the point, why would a regime consider any form of surrender, if there is no promise of mercy or quarter. This Pentagon chief’s understanding of war appears to be of
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
The War with Iran May Already be Lost
Shut the fuck up faggot.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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Quote:The Dept of War has $trillions worth of weaponry, but it can't pacify one backward country. The Dept of War couldn't handle Afghanistan, and it can't handle Iran. I blame the Trumptards who are in the military. These guys cannot run their own lives worth a damn, so it is no surprise that even with $trillions of dollars they are floundering around. 6ix, you are a perfect example of a Trumptard. Your day consists of smoking cigarettes and watching porn. You'd be suitable for making decisions about military strategy in Iran for Trump.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
The War with Iran May Already be Lost
Shut the fuck up faggot.
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Be Evil. Be a dick.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick. 
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Typical Trump: announces an energy infrastructure cease fire and then the USA and Israel attack the very next day. Why would anyone ever negotiate with him? You can't believe a word he says.
"Boots on the ground" appear to be in the cards.
Quote:
. . .
Then I saw this X-post by the IntelFrog:Quote:
A significant movement is underway from US Army, Navy and Air Force bases in CONUS to the Middle East comprised of at least 35 C-17 flights since March 12th, with 11 more flights on the way.
Origins:
12-Hunter Army Air Field/Fort Stewart, GA
8-Unknown
7-JB Lewis-McChord, WA [JBLM]
6-Pope Army Air Field/Fort Bragg, NC
4-Campbell Army Airfield/Fort Campbell, KY
4-Gray Army Airfield/JB Lewis-McChord, WA
4-Naval Air Station Oceana, VA
1-MacDill AFB, FL
1-JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ
Destinations:
17-Ovda Air Base, Israel
13-King Faisal Air Base, Jordan
4 -King Hussein Int’l Airport, Jordan
https://x.com/TheIntelFrog/status/2036151943152935073
When you Google the military units located at these airfields in the US, a pattern begins to emerge (the following information is derived from a Google AI search):
Hunter Army Airfield (IATA: SVN, ICAO: KSVN) is located in Savannah, Georgia, and is a military airfield and subordinate installation to Fort Stewart, located in Hinesville, Georgia — about 45 miles to the southwest. What could the C-17 be picking up? Cargo, helicopters or personnel? Important to note that Hunter is home to some of the US military’s most elite aviation forces:
1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment — not an aviation unit itself, but the Rangers are based at Hunter and work closely with the 160th SOAR
3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) — the legendary “Night Stalkers,” flying highly modified MH-60 Black Hawks and MH-47 Chinooks on classified special operations missions worldwide.
15th Air Support Operations Squadron (USAF) — Air Force unit embedded with Army ground forces to coordinate close air support
2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment — not a flying unit, but the Rangers at JBLM are closely integrated with the 160th SOAR in rapid-raid and direct-action mission sets 1st Special Forces Group — the primary Army Special Forces group for the Pacific theater, also at JBLM, relying on the 160th SOAR for aviation support 22nd Special Tactics Squadron (USAF) — Air Force special operations combat controllers and para-rescuemen embedded at McChord Field, supporting the full joint special operations enterprise ...
is an amalgamation of Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base, which merged on February 1, 2010, as a result of 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations. JBLM is the only Army power projection base west of the Rocky Mountains in the Continental United States. Key units at this base include:
The 4th Battalion, 160th SOAR is listed as a major unit at JBLM. Like the 3rd Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, the 4th Battalion is part of the legendary Night Stalkers — the Army’s elite special operations aviation regiment that provides aviation support to special operations forces worldwide. Flying highly modified MH-60 and MH-47 variants with advanced navigation and survivability systems, the Night Stalkers operate under the motto “Night Stalkers Don’t Quit” and support the full range of classified special operations missions. JBLM’s 4th Battalion supports Pacific-theater special operations requirements.
Fort Campbell, KY: Fort Campbell and Campbell Army Airfield represent arguably the most aviation-dense installation in the entire US Army — the spiritual home of Army rotary-wing aviation and the epicenter of special operations aviation worldwide. Fort Campbell is the regimental home of the 160th SOAR, the most elite rotary-wing aviation unit in the world. Key units include:
1st Battalion, 160th SOAR (Airborne): 1st Battalion is located at Fort Campbell, KY and is equipped with MH-6 and AH-6 Little Bird light assault and attack helicopters and MH-60 Black Hawk asNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
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Oil Tumbles, Stocks Surge As Israeli TV Reports US Seeks 'One Month Ceasefire'; Tehran Refuses Talks With 'Backstabbers'
I guess Trump admin insiders haven't lined their pockets with enough insider trading.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Phillips P. OBrien
Mar 25, 2026
As long as the Iranians control access to the Persian Gulf/Straits of Hormuz and the IRGC leadership exercises authority over the Iranian military, they hold a very strong set of cards in any negotiations. The only way for the US Government to change that equation is to forcibly open trade into and out of the Gulf (more on that below) or to put in place an Iranian government that is willing to do so for them.
So that is the dilemma the US faces. The US must escalate or admit that the Iranians are in a very strong position in any talks. Trump seems to understand this, which is why he is desperately and publicly trying to create the narrative that he has already won. He wants out of this war, but if he cannot convince himself that people will believe that he has won, we might still have escalation.
More at https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/midweek-update-3-for-now-this-l
ooks
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Oil industry confronted with its ‘worst nightmare.’ Trump’s former defense secretary sees few options
The sheer scale of the chaos the war has brought to the industry poked some holes in the face of the conference itself: Some of the world’s top oil producers who are regulars at the annual Houston gathering were notable in their absence. Exxon Mobil CEO and Chair Darren Woods, whose company has major oil and gas operations in the Gulf, and Amin Nasser, CEO of national oil company Saudi Aramco, skipped this year to address the disruptions. Top executives from the state-run oil companies in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates appeared virtually.
“We are outraged by this attack against us,” Shaikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., said of recent strikes by Iranian projectiles that damaged a major refinery there. “This is an attack against not only the Gulf, but it is an attack that is holding the world’s economy hostage.”
https://attentiontotheunseen.com/2026/03/24/oil-industry-confronted-wi
th-its-worst-nightmare-trumps-former-defense-secretary-sees-few-options/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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The War With Iran Is Exposing Big Problems for the Military
What we have learned about the strengths and weaknesses of the American way of war
By Eliot A. Cohen** | March 25, 2026, 2:08 PM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/iran-war-reveals-american-we
akness/686532/
In 1986, the British historian Correlli Barnett published The Audit of War, a brutal critique of Britain’s industrial performance in World War II. One can learn from his controversial effort: The United States is going through its own audit of war right now as we close in on a month of conflict in the Persian Gulf. Free download of The Audit of War: The Illusion and Reality of Britain as a Great Nation (Pride and Fall sequence Book 2) by Correlli Barnett https://annas-archive.gl/search?q=Correlli+Barnett+The+Audit+of+War
No other country could have projected force from its homeland on the scale that America so far has—and not just in a couple of large raids, but in a sustained campaign conducted over a vast expanse of land and sea. Though the intelligence story of this war is, as ever, in the shadows, there is no question that American intelligence-gathering and analysis, especially but not exclusively from technical sources such as satellite imagery and signal intercepts, have been extraordinary.
At the high end, the performance of advanced American-military technology such as the F-35 fighter bombers flown by the United States and its ally Israel has been stunning. Not a single F-35 has been lost. These airplanes, which are flying computers and sensors as much as they are bomb droppers, have remarkable abilities to coordinate with other aircraft, identify threats, and escape detection. So, too, do B-2 bombers and many other remarkable airborne platforms.
The professionalism of the American military has been on display from top to bottom. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, and the head of Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, have been models of clarity, calm, and decisiveness. The young men and women flying, maintaining, and fixing the airplanes and manning defenses have displayed competence and grit.
All good news. But there is plenty of bad news as well, for which the armed services and previous administrations as well as the current one are responsible. The stockpiles of advanced munitions (particularly interceptor missiles) are radically inadequate and will remain so for some time. In the Middle East conflicts of 2025, most estimates have it that nearly a quarter of the stocks of the Army’s high-altitude interceptor, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile, were consumed; a comparable number may have been used up in the current conflict. Many other high-end precision-strike systems have already been consumed at greater than the yearly rate of replenishment scheduled for fiscal year 2026.
The relatively modest size of the naval task force in the Persian Gulf is also notable. In the 1980s, during a previous conflict with Iran, the U.S. Navy deployed some 30 warships in the Gulf; today it has scarcely a dozen just outside it. In 1986, the Navy had 214 surface combatants (cruisers, destroyers, and frigates); in 2026 it has only half as many, at a time when the Chinese navy is arguably a greater threat than the Soviet navy ever was.
One particularly significant shortage is of effective minor warships. In 1986, the fleet included 113 frigates, ships smaller than destroyers but vital for missions such as escorting convoys. Now there are none, their place having been taken by some two dozen littoral combat ships, which have proved mechanically unreliable, underequipped for high-threat environments, and unsuited for key missions. Worse: The attempt to replace them, with an Italian-designed frigate, has collapsed because of modifications that made the proposed warship wildly expensive. The Navy is now considering modifying a class of Coast Guard cutters that would lack basic armaments such as vertical tubes for launching a variety of anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles.
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Iran has established an informal "$2 million toll" on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, enforced by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), leading to a rise in traffic for vessels opting to pay for safe passage through a specific corridor. This fee has prompted at least 20 ships, some "zombie" tankers, to navigate the rerouted passage.
Key Details on the Strait of Hormuz Toll System
• The "Tehran Toll Booth": The IRGC is directing traffic through a new corridor between Iranian islands (Qeshm and Larak), allowing transit for those paying up to $2 million, according to reports in Lloyd's List Intelligence. https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603233156
• Increased Traffic: Following a severe drop in transit due to conflict, the number of ships paying for this passage has started increasing.
• Alternative to Risks: This payment acts as a “protection" fee, ensuring safety against attacks. It is being paid because insurance costs have skyrocketed after recent maritime attacks, making the $2 million fee a "bargain" compared to total risks, say analysts at Fortune.
• "Zombie" Tankers: At least 20 ships, including some operating under deceptive identities (zombie tankers), have taken this route, notes Lloyd's List Intelligence.
• Impact on Oil Trade: While total traffic remains lower than the pre-war norm (about 20 million barrels per day), some oil flow is moving again, with analysts in bne IntelliNews noting around 8 million barrels per day are moving, including through this new corridor.
This situation has been characterized as a deliberate "shakedown," with the blockade itself generating the revenue that allows the IRGC to reopen the strait on its own terms.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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