Tag: iran

Why US Pilot Rescue Op Is Far From ‘Success’

The Pentagon has a long habit of “disguising and hiding the fact that they have been losing significant numbers to injury or even death of personnel,” and it can’t be ruled out that losses are written off as contractors, Stockholm University professor Isa Blumi told Sputnik.

“There are many people who work for the US military who have been taken out, who have been forced to leave their sites of operations. In that regard, we need to distrust most or everything that comes out of Washington,” Blumi, a renowned expert on modern Middle East affairs explained.

“That obviously includes information about deaths — of either the pilots of the original plane or the search and rescue mission itself, considering how many aircraft were actually destroyed,” the observer said.

Saturday’s operation can be characterized as a “success” only in so far as its coverage by the corporate media, “owned by the same people pushing for war on Iran,” diverted attention from other crises and scandals, including the war’s impact on ordinary Americans, Blumi said.

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Lavrov, Araghchi Call on to Cease Strikes on Iranian Civilian Infrastructure – Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi stressed the need to immediately halt reckless attacks on the Iranian civilian and energy infrastructure, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

“The ministers emphasized the need to immediately cease reckless and illegal attacks on civilian, industrial, and energy infrastructure, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is under IAEA safeguards,” the ministry said in a statement following the call.

Both ministers also stressed the inadmissibility of threats to the nuclear power plant’s personnel and the risks of a radioactive disaster in the region, the ministry said. Lavrov also expressed his condolences to Araghchi over the death of a civilian employee of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, it added.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov held a phone conversation with Araghchi to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

During the call, Lavrov expressed hope for the success of efforts aiming at de-escalating the conflict in the Middle East, it said. In particular, the United States would contribute to such efforts by “abandoning the language of ultimatums and returning the situation to the negotiating track,” the ministry added.

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Chinese satellite imagery of Middle East bases is helping Iran, US intelligence says

A Chinese company’s publication of AI-enhanced satellite images of US bases in the Middle East is helping Iranian forces identify targets, US intelligence believes.

The ABC has been briefed on the intelligence by a source inside US defence, who says the images are endangering lives.

Chinese geospatial artificial intelligence and software company MizarVision, which the Chinese government has a small ownership stake in, has been publishing detailed satellite images with tagging data of multiple US military sites in the lead-up to, and during, the Iran war. 

The imagery showcases an AI tool that identifies and tags military forces across vast areas, a capability that once required the resources of a national intelligence agency.

The Pentagon believes the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is using the AI-enhanced satellite imagery to help target sites, according to a source within the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the intelligence branch of the American military.

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US Satellite Firm Blacks Out Iran War Images Per US Government Request

Planet Labs says it will “indefinitely withhold” satellite visuals of Iran and the wider Middle East war zone after a request from the U.S. government and the Trump administration. In an email to customers, the firm said it is shifting to a “managed distribution” model, releasing imagery only case-by-case for “urgent, mission-critical requirements,” or when release is deemed “in the public interest.” Planet also said it will withhold imagery dating back to March 9, and it expects the policy to remain in effect until the conflict ends.

On March 6, Planet Labs announced a mandatory 96-hour delay on new imagery collected over the Gulf states, arguing that near-real-time pictures could be exploited to “endanger allied, NATO, and civilian personnel.” That measure later expanded into a 14-day delay, described by Planet as an extension of the earlier hold. By March 30, Al Jazeera’s Digital Investigations unit was reporting that independent verification had become harder as commercial providers restricted satellite imagery.

Satellite imagery matters because, unlike press briefings, it can corroborate damage, assess patterns of targeting, and check narratives that would otherwise be accepted on authority. Reporting by the Global Investigative Journalism Network describes how open-source teams used satellite imagery and videos to probe contested incidents during this war, quoting Bellingcat’s head of research warning that a “two-week delay” slows verification and reduces the certainty investigators can reach while events are still developing. It also quotes the Defense Secretary saying, “Open source is not the place to determine what did or did not happen.”

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Iran hits energy sites in Kuwait as US says downed pilot rescued

Iran hit several energy sites in Kuwait, including the headquarters of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which was reportedly struck by a drone. The barrage came after US President Donald Trump warned that “all hell will rain down” on Iran unless the Strait of Hormuz is unblocked within 48 hours.

Iran has closed the vital waterway to “enemy ships” following the first wave of US and Israeli attacks on February 28, driving up oil and gas prices worldwide. Trump has vowed to target Iranian power plants if shipping is not fully restored.

Meanwhile, the United States said it had successfully rescued a crew member of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle during what Trump described as “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history.” The officer, whom Trump identified as a colonel, had been stranded in mountainous terrain inside Iran and was recovered by a large force of aircraft after sustaining injuries. He said the serviceman is now “safe and sound.”

Trump added that a second US pilot had been rescued in a separate operation a day earlier, which had not been disclosed at the time for operational security reasons, and said both missions were carried out without American casualties. The Pentagon has not publicly confirmed details of the operations.

Earlier reports had indicated intense fighting between US commandos and Iran’s Basij paramilitary force in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, where the aircraft was shot down on Friday, and that Iranian authorities had offered a reward for the pilot’s capture.

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Nuclear Risk Rising Daily Amid Bushehr Nuclear Plant Attacks— Rosatom CEO

The events at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant are developing according to the most undesirable forecast, Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, events are developing according to the most undesirable forecast. As they say, our bad premonitions did not deceive us. In general, the identification of the conflict and the escalation around the Persian Gulf lead to corresponding consequences… Today at about 7:20 a.m. Moscow time [4:20 GMT], a blow was actually struck to the physical protection circuit of the station, and the first death of an employee was recorded,” Likhachev told reporters.

It remains unclear whether the incident was accidental or a deliberate attack, Rosatom CEO said.

“Unfortunately, the likelihood of a possible nuclear incident causing damage is only increasing day by day, unfortunately, they are confirmed by the events of today,” Likhachev said.

Likhachev added the main phase of evacuation of Russian specialists from Iran’s Bushehr NPP began on Saturday, about 20 minutes after the strike. The evacuation of 198 personnel is being carried out by bus, with the journey across nearly all of Iran expected to take two-and-a-half to three days, he said.

“Of course, we have informed the relevant services of Israel and the United States. We are very grateful to our [Russian] Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, and our special services for this cooperation. Here we work as a single mechanism, we support each other. I bow low for caring for our comrades,” Likhachev added.

Iran is taking extensive measures to secure the evacuation route for Russian specialists from the NPP, with coordination also underway with Armenian authorities, Rosatom CEO said. The evacuated personnel are expected to depart later from Yerevan airport, he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is closely monitoring the situation around the Bushehr plant, paying particular attention to the plant’s operations and Russian personnel, Likhachev also said.

Earlier in the day, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said that the Bushehr NPP site came under fire from the United States and Israel, and one of its employees was killed.

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Two HC-130J ‘King’ Aircraft, 2 Helos Intentionally Destroyed On Ground In Iran During Rescue Mission (History Rhymes) – US SOF Forces Avenge Desert One Failure Under Carter

After evacuating the second crew member of the downed F-15E, the U.S. had to destroy two HC-130J Combat King II rescue aircraft and two helicopters that, for unknown reasons, were unable to leave Iran.

The aircraft were blown up on the ground to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands after landing at an improvised refueling site. 

Three additional HC-130J Combat King II aircraft were then dispatched to continue the combat search-and-rescue mission.

The wreckage of a U.S. MH-6 Little Bird helicopter was spotted next to the remains of HC-130J Combat King II rescue aircraft that were destroyed by U.S. airstrikes in Iran to prevent them from falling into IRGC hands. (h/t Clash Report)

The images are eerily reminiscent of the failed ‘Desert One’ Iranian rescue mission under President Carter in 1980, except this time, the mission was highly successful.

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Trump has no good options to resolve the disaster he created in Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the American public on Wednesday, but he didn’t have anything new to say. That lack of any substance is emblematic of the entire criminal and foolish war he agreed to launch on Iran.

The American war effort is a disaster. While the United States and Israel have inflicted enormous damage on Iran and killed and injured thousands of innocent civilians both there and in Lebanon, the actual gains are minimal, and to the extent that there were any goals for this war, they haven’t been achieved.

When Trump announced that he would speak Wednesday night, many thought he was going to announce a timetable for an American departure from this war, but all we got was more of the same “four weeks” guesswork that we heard four weeks ago. 

The only item that was even a little different, although Trump has been alluding to it for several days, is that the U.S. might leave the war without a deal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. 

Doing that would make American losses in this war even more dramatic. But Trump has allowed himself to be led into a war with no way out. 

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Downed U.S. Drone Appears On TikTok Live As Iraqi Children Try To Sell It

As the U.S.-Iran conflict enters its second month, America’s Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, is becoming increasingly visible across the Middle East theater, a sign that the Department of War has learned one critical lesson from both the Iranian drone playbook and the Ukraine-Russia war: cheap drones are the future of warfare.

The latest news on LUCAS comes from an unverifiable TikTok video, amplified on X, which appears to show a downed drone seized by Iraqi children who are reportedly trying to sell it.

If authentic, the footage is another reminder that low-cost drones are proliferating so widely across the region that they will likely spread to other parts of the world.

In a separate video reposted on X, Iranian forces appear to have recovered a LUCAS drone in the Persian Gulf area.

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Foreign Influence Exposed: How Non-U.S. Social Media Accounts Shape the Narrative on Iran Conflict

Foreign social media accounts could be shaping negative narratives about the U.S.-Iran conflict, raising concerns about misinformation and public perception.

A report by Pew Research Center on March 25 indicates that a significant number of Americans are against U.S. military involvement in Iran. According to their survey, about 61 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with President Donald Trump’s handling of the conflict, while 37 percent express approval.

Furthermore, by a margin of almost two-to-one, more of the survey’s participants believe military action is not progressing well—45 percent compared to the 25 percent who think it is going extremely or very well.

But is someone shaping this narrative? On X, foreign users are certainly influencing the way the conflict is perceived. A recent analysis published on conservative political commentator Glenn Beck’s website of more than 1,000 viral English-language posts may offer valuable insights into who is crafting the narrative.

These posts, published between February 28 and March 13, showed a significant influence from accounts based outside the U.S. In his opinion, these accounts, along with the groups or governments behind them, are significantly steering the conversation on X, inundating it with “inflammatory and demoralizing propaganda,” which can alter public perception and sentiment.

Mauro, a national security analyst and founder of The Mauro Institute, spoke to The Gateway Pundit about his discovery. He shared that, according to his research, “more than half, specifically 559 out of 1,000, of the viral X posts written in English about Iran come from abroad. These 559 posts garnered more than 650 million views and accumulated nearly 22 million total interactions, including reposts, likes, and replies. For him, “This engagement underscores the power of social media to amplify certain narratives.”

Interestingly, a random selection of 150 posts from the thousand viral X posts showed that 108 (72%) were negative, whereas only 40 (27%) were positive. The non-U.S. portion of that random selection showed a significantly negative response, with 64 percent expressing negativity and only 10 percent showing positivity. According to Mauro, this imbalance alone raises questions about the authenticity of the discourse surrounding the issue.

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