Full speed ahead: On Sunday, hours after Donald Trump launched an operation that decimated Iran’s nuclear program, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “very, very close” to achieving its war goals against the Islamic Republic—but not quite done. His actions matched his rhetoric.
In the wake of Trump’s strike, “the Israeli military conducted at least two major waves of airstrikes across Iran that struck dozens of missile, drone, and air defense sites,” the Free Beacon‘s Andrew Tobin reports from Tel Aviv. “The Israeli military said the strikes also hit radar and satellite systems in Western Iran, as well as missile storage and launch infrastructure in Kermanshah and Bahman. Semi-official Iranian news agencies reported that three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in a strike in the western Zanjan province, and explosions were heard in the southern port city of Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
“Several current and former Israeli officials told the Washington Free Beacon that the joint campaign has already dealt a severe blow to Iran’s nuclear program. But they said Israel must continue striking to dismantle Iran’s remaining missile capabilities—a mission they estimated would take another one to three weeks.” Israel, for example, has destroyed roughly 40 percent of Iran’s missile launchers, two participants in a confidential Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee told Tobin. Now, officials are determining how many more to destroy before declaring victory.
“The question is if 60 percent is enough for us, or if we want 70 percent or 80 percent or 90 percent,” said Ohad Tal, who sits on the committee. “I think the answer is that we would want to do as much as possible.”
READ MORE: Israel Not Finished With Iran, Netanyahu Says After ‘Historic’ US Airstrikes
Going ballistic: The Obama administration was filled with mediocre white men like lacrosse-playing frat bro Frederick Vietor IV, speechwriter Jon Favreau, former Iranian nuclear czar Ben Rhodes, and some other guy named Dan Pfeiffer. They all “threw embarrassing tantrums on Saturday in response to the successful U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” our Andrew Stiles writes.
Vietor, best known for playing shirtless beer pong with Favreau on day 43 of the Deepwater Horizon crisis, said Trump was “manipulated into doing Netanyahu’s dirty work” and “fighting a war for a lying, corrupt, racist foreign leader.” Rhodes, who defended Obama’s unilateral strikes in Syria and Yemen, called Trump’s attack “lawless.” Pfeiffer complained that the talking heads on CNN were being too mean to Iran. Favreau, best known for groping a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton, sat back and retweeted it all.
Obama himself “has yet to post on social media since commemorating the ‘Juneteenth’ holiday last week,” writes Stiles. “He is also presumed to be in a bad mood, but that is mostly due to the fact that his wife Michelle clearly hates him and recently said she was ‘so glad’ she never had a son because ‘he would have been a Barack Obama.'”
READ MORE: Obama Bros Go Ballistic After Trump Bombs Iranian Nuke Program
Double standards on display: So-called human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch frequently launch baseless attacks on Israel. So after Iran injured at least 80 people in a strike on an Israeli hospital (one that does not double as a military command center) the Free Beacon‘s Alana Goodman asked them what they had to say about it. She got mostly crickets in return.
Amnesty International said it was “unable to comment at present as our research team is still looking into this incident.” Human Rights Watch did not respond. Neither did nine other groups, including the European Council on Foreign Relations. Two organizations, Nonviolence International and PAX for Peace, said they couldn’t comment because of staff holidays.
“Amnesty International criticized Israel’s military action in Iran earlier this week, saying the ‘world must not allow Israel to use this military escalation to divert attention away from its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip,'” writes Goodman. “Earlier this week, PAX condemned Israel ‘for this illegal military action’ in Iran and submitted a petition for lawmakers calling for a ‘complete arms embargo against Israel.'”
READ MORE: Human Rights Groups Refuse To Condemn Iran’s Strike on Israeli Hospital
In other news:
- A message to the mullahs: “It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,'” Donald Trump wrote in a Sunday afternoon Truth Social post, “but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!”
- Speaking of the Iranian regime, Tehran is “reeling from American military attacks on its three main nuclear sites early Sunday, with four officials describing the mood in the government as one of defeat and national humiliation,” the New York Times reported.
- Trump “had already decided to authorize military action” when he gave his “within two weeks” remark last Thursday, a deliberate messaging strategy—or “headfake,” as one adviser told Axios—meant to buy time and throw both Iran and the media off the scent of a strike.
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