Besides destroying IRGC infrastructure, the US destroys their lies after Khamenai is also destroyed

The United States didn't pull any punches. It straight-up called out Tehran by name, shredding what CENTCOM describes as outright lies from the Iranian regime in a no-nonsense, point-by-point smackdown posted just hours after the joint U.S.-Israel operation that took out Iran's Supreme Leader.

This fact-check blitz hit right after the coordinated strike that eliminated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a hit that U.S. officials are calling a major takedown in the regime's long-running terror spree and chaos across the region.In a couple of tough posts on X, CENTCOM directly slapped down claims from Iran's UN ambassador and the IRGC, branding them false and accusing Tehran of trying to snow the whole world.

At a UN Security Council session, Iran's ambassador insisted Tehran's retaliation was aimed "solely and exclusively at the bases and assets of the United States. "CENTCOM shot that down hard."

The Iranian Regime is actively targeting civilians and has attacked more than a dozen locations," the command declared, then rattled off the sites it says got hit.Those include: 

Dubai International Airport

Kuwait International Airport

Zayed International Airport in Dubai 

Erbil International Airport in Iraq, 

Fairmont Palm Hotel in Dubai, 

Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, 

Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bahrain, 

Port of Dubai, 

residential areas in Beit Shemesh, Israel, 

residential areas in Tel Aviv, 

Israel, residential area of Era Views Towers in Bahrain, 

residential areas in Qatar.

This public call-out ramps up the messaging war big time, with Washington accusing Iran of slamming civilian targets while feeding the international community a bunch of garbage.In another whopper, the IRGC claimed it nailed the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier with ballistic missiles. CENTCOM wasn't having it.

"The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close," the command fired back, and media video shows that this is true.

The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.

"These blunt denials drop as the U.S. and Israel keep hammering Iranian military targets in their joint ops, going after air defenses, missile setups, naval forces, you name it. 

By flat-out labeling Tehran's spin as bogus, the U.S. is fighting the info war right alongside the kinetic one, pushing back on Iranian propaganda, steadying allies, and making crystal clear that key American assets are still locked and loaded.

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Iran will target US military after Trump promises to use bunker busters on them

President Donald Trump has drawn a very clear red line in the sand with Iran, and the clock is ticking fast.

In his State of the Union address, the president made it crystal clear that he will not let the world's top state sponsor of terrorism [you know it as Iran] get its hands on a nuclear weapon.

"I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror … to have a nuclear weapon," Trump told a joint session of Congress.

This comes after he publicly laid down a tight deadline back on February 19, giving Tehran roughly 10 to 15 days to cut a real deal. 

"I would think that would be enough time, 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum," Trump said at the time, adding that without an agreement, "it's going to be unfortunate for them."

Tuesday night from the House floor, he ramped up the pressure, confirming talks are happening but noting Iran still hasn't uttered the magic words he demands.

"We are in negotiations with them," Trump said. "They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: 'We will never have a nuclear weapon.'"

He also took a moment to flash back to the decisive 2025 U.S. strike, Operation Midnight Hammer, which he said "obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program."

Tehran got the message loud and clear after that hit: don't even think about rebuilding. Yet here we are, with Iran apparently trying to restart the whole thing.

This mix of a hard diplomatic timer and a blunt reminder of American military muscle signals a more intense phase in this standoff, especially as negotiations grind on in Geneva.

Trump hasn't spelled out exactly what comes next if Iran blows off his terms, but he told reporters earlier this month that if no solid deal happens, "bad things will happen," and he's weighing additional moves.

With the SOTU in the books and the deadline already rolling, the next few days could decide if we get a breakthrough on the nuclear front or if things head toward serious confrontation in the Middle East.

Backing up the tough talk is the biggest show of U.S. naval power in the region since the 2003 Iraq invasion.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the most advanced carrier in the fleet, pulled into Souda Bay, Crete, on Monday. It links up with the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been running around-the-clock flight ops in the Arabian Sea since late January.

Together, these strike groups give the U.S. 14 major warships, including nine Arleigh Burke-class destroyers loaded with Tomahawk missiles.

Adding to the firepower, twelve F-22 Raptor stealth fighters landed at Ovda Airbase in southern Israel.

As national security analyst Joe Funderburke pointed out in Small Wars Journal, "The F-22 is not a simple show-of-force aircraft. It is designed to suppress enemy air defenses and protect penetrating strike platforms like the B-2 Spirit bomber, the same combination used to devastate Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz nine months ago."

Trump's shout-out to Operation Midnight Hammer, where B-2 bombers dropped those massive 30,000-pound bunker busters, basically serves as the playbook for whatever might follow this deadline.

While the 2025 strike was a clean, surgical surprise, the current force posture points to something potentially much wider, given Iran's threats of a strong counterpunch.

After Midnight Hammer, Iran's reaction stayed pretty restrained, and they had some forewarning. This time around, Tehran is vowing a much harder response and claiming any U.S. troops in the region are fair game.

On top of the nuclear squeeze, Trump highlighted the brutal crackdown on recent protests in Iran.

"Just over the last couple of months with the protests, they’ve killed at least, it looks like, 32,000 protesters — 32,000 protesters in their own country," the president said. "They shot them and hung them."

Team Trump has made it plain: any deal means Iran stops all uranium enrichment cold and gives ironclad, verifiable proof the program can't come back, demands the regime has shot down repeatedly.

Both sides seem convinced the other is bluffing.

Trump is selling this window as the last real shot at diplomacy, backed by unmatched force. Iranian leaders keep brushing off the threats and promising massive retaliation against U.S. forces and allies if attacked.

Even so, U.S. and Iranian teams are set to sit down again in Geneva on Thursday. The stakes couldn't be higher.

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U.S. positioned for "highly kinetic" war in Middle East

US assets in the Middle East are positioned for a "highly kinetic" war, a former senior Pentagon official warns. Dana Stroul told Fox News Digital that the current force posture stands ready to execute whatever orders President Trump gives.

The U.S. military has built up one of its largest recent deployments in the Middle East, and a former top Pentagon hand says we're now set up for a "highly kinetic" campaign against Iran if things go that way.

Dana Stroul, who now serves as research director at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, dropped this assessment on Sunday as Washington and Tehran gear up for a second round of indirect nuclear talks in Oman.

"The US military is ready for a sustained, highly kinetic campaign should President Trump order it, and also prepared to defend allies and partners in the Middle East from Iran's missiles," Stroul told the outlet.

"The US military can rapidly reposition assets from all over the world and deploy overwhelmingly lethal force in a short period of time to one theater," she said. She added that "no ally or enemy [is] capable of what we have seen from the US in this current buildup." Stroul pointed out how this posture differs from the June 2025 strikes on Iranian-linked nuclear targets. Back then it was limited, highly targeted hits to degrade key facilities without kicking off a wider regional mess. Now the U.S. has ramped up both offensive and defensive muscle.

"Two US aircraft carriers and their accompanying vessels and air wings were stationed in the Middle East last summer during the 12-day war and the US operation Midnight Hammer," she explained.

"The addition of the Ford is really important, it expands US offensive capabilities if we go to war with Iran," she said.

The U.S. has also "increased the number of guided-missile destroyers, fighter aircraft, refuelers, and air defense systems" in the region. Carriers like the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln are carrying serious weight here strategically. The Ford was recently tracked heading east through the Strait of Gibraltar, while the Lincoln is in the Arabian Sea.

"They will both be in the Middle East CENTCOM theater," Stroul explained. She noted there could be "one in the eastern Mediterranean and the other in the Arabian Gulf."

"There would probably be a combination of reasons for that based on availability, readiness, proximity to the Middle East. The Ford was heading home and directed to turn around," she added.Exact destinations stay under wraps for obvious operational security reasons, but just having them there sends a clear message of escalation leverage and deterrence.

This buildup rolls on while indirect diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran keep going, with Oman playing mediator again on Feb. 26.

Stroul says Iran's leadership is juggling brinkmanship and negotiation.

"Iran's leaders are playing a weak hand by combining saber-rattling about their own capabilities, staging preparations and exercises to signal readiness," she claimed.

"They are attempting to slow this down by pursuing negotiations. No one should be under any illusions about the reality of US dominance, Iran is completely outmatched in conventional terms," Stroul said.

Meanwhile, the Ayatollah is somewhere in a hidey-hole with a target on his hairy back.

"Israel dominated Iranian airspace in one day last year, targeted many of Iran's security leaders, took out half of its missile arsenal, and the US significantly set back its nuclear program," Stroul said.

Iran's proxy network, Hezbollah, Shi'ite militias in Iraq, elements in Syria, has taken a beating too after over two years of Israeli operations.

"Iran's long-cultivated network of proxies across the region is degraded after more than two years of Israeli operations, and they declined to enter the war and support Iran's defense last summer," Stroul explained.

"No matter what Iran's leaders say, Iran is not able to rebuild a decades-long project in a few months."

"That said, the US military is in a position to execute whatever orders President Trump gives," she said. "It is not a question of military readiness, but a political decision."

It seems to be more of a question of 'when', than it is a question of 'if'. 

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World's biggest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrives in the Middle East

The world's largest aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy nuclear-powered Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) (photo credit: Seaman Abigail Reyes/U.S. Navy)

The US military is gearing up for what could be weeks-long operations against Iran if President Trump gives the green light. Two US officials told Reuters this could turn into a far more serious conflict than anything we've seen before between the two countries.

"Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of," Trump said.

These officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive planning involved. It definitely ramps up the pressure on the ongoing diplomacy with Iran.

US and Iranian diplomats met in Oman last week to try reviving talks on Tehran's nuclear program, after Trump built up forces in the region and sparked fears of fresh military action. On the military side, US officials announced Friday that the Pentagon is deploying another aircraft carrier to the Middle East, along with thousands more troops, fighter jets, guided-missile destroyers, and other assets for both offense and defense. Carriers typically house over 5,000 personnel, and the USS Gerald R. Ford is bigger than them all.

Trump spoke to troops at a North Carolina base Friday and said it's "been difficult to make a deal" with Iran.

"Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of," Trump said.

When asked about preparations for potentially prolonged operations, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: "President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran. He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what is best for our country and national security." 

The Pentagon had no comment.

Last year, the US sent two carriers to the region for strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. But June's "Midnight Hammer" was basically a single strike: stealth bombers flew from the US to hit nuclear facilities, and Iran responded with a very limited attack on a US base in Qatar. This time, however, the planning is more involved, officials said.

In a sustained campaign, the US could target Iranian state and security facilities, not just nuclear ones, one official noted, without giving specifics. You can bet the Ayatollah isn't diddy-bopping above terra firma at the moment.

Experts warn the risks to US forces would be much higher against Iran, given its strong missile arsenal. Iranian retaliation could easily spark a wider regional war.

The same official said the US expects Iran to hit back, leading to ongoing strikes and counter-strikes over time. Iran is also preparing [allegedly] to strike Tel Aviv in the near future, and you can bet the IDF isn't playing with their dreidels and are instead preparing to retaliate.

The White House and Pentagon didn't answer questions on retaliation risks or regional escalation.

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Trump has repeatedly warned he'd bomb Iran over its nuclear and missile programs, plus its crackdown on internal dissent. On Thursday, he said the alternative to diplomacy would "be very traumatic, very traumatic." [Two 'very traumatics' is very, very serious.]

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have threatened to strike any US base if Iran is hit. The US has bases across the Middle East: Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Turkey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President Trump in Washington on Wednesday and said any deal with Iran "must include the elements that are vital to Israel." 

Iran says it's open to discussing nuclear curbs for sanctions relief, but won't tie it to missiles because they obviously plan to go nuclear or already have done so.

So, with the IRGC killing Iranian citizens and both Israel and the US ready to launch an attack if necessary, it looks like history is soon to be made in the Middle East.

Am America/Israel Chai.

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