This whole operation is going to make a hell of a money in the future. Not only were both the pilot and the WSO successfully extracted alive out of Iran BUT the U.S. managed to literally create a FARP (Forward Arming and Refueling Point) in Iran itself!
At the FARP two American C-130s did get stuck in the sand and rather than leave them for the Iranians the Special Forces blew the planes up on the way out.
A plane or 10 is nothing to pay for the successful evacuation of our service members. No man left behind was clearly on display tonight and shows the absolute power of the U.S. since Iran…. Well either had no idea or had no way to defend itself and just accepted a U.S. base being set up in their country 😂
Clock is ticking to make that deal and given they just got embarrassed and lost the one key point of leverage they could have had….
The winds are blowing harder and harder against the repressive and vile Iranian Regime. They attacked two desalination plants in Kuwait that do not serve Americans or the West continuing to push Gulf Nations who are going to snap back at them. Gulf Nations are showing an increase in agitation for Iran’s attacks on purely civilian assets…. FAFO
sigh
Loss of a fighter jet plus two C130s does not feel like "winning" to me.
While I love the A10 and the F-15E’s both are on the ways out. the A10 the Air Force has tried to retire for years and F-15E’s are being phased out for the F-15EX Eagle II.
The F-15E we lost at its youngest would have been a plane we got in 1997 so at its youngest it would have been a 29 year old fighter jet. At the time those cost ~$30 mil each and I want to say with inflation it would not be something like $67 million but with them being phased out I’m not sure how to compare the loss value.
Now the C-130’s are reported to be C-130J’s (which does track) those have been in production since 1996 and cost depending on the FY and block number $67 to $110 million a piece.
There is evidence that they blew up at least one MH-6M Little Birds if not 2 and those cost $2 million a piece.
I am going to use the max numbers for replacements (it won’t be exactly this because of the F-15E being replaced and an A-10 I got no idea cause Congress won’t let them die) but max costs I got in replacements would be $291 million. That’s the ~$67 mil for the F-15, $220 mil for the two C-130J’s, and $4 million for the possible 2 MH-6M Little Birds.
With having no one die or worse being captured I think that this is easily the best case scenario. I mean we were able to establish a forward operating base in Iran to get this done. I would have loved if they had both been immediately picked up and evac’d but this was something I was getting worried wasn’t going to happen.
The Battle of Mogadishu showed us the worst that could happen and so this I think is the flip side and shows us the best.
Like I mentioned it is a huge embarrassment to Iran to fail in capturing the WSO given the amount of time he was on the ground. Then when it comes out that the U.S. was able to establish a FOB in the area that’s borderline insanity. I never would have imagined that being the case but it happened.
Have you watched the movie 'Palestine 36' yet @Cje95 ?
And what do you think of The Greater Israel Project?
Have you even heard of it?
I don’t believe in the Greater Israel Project and I rank it up there with China’s idea of owning China’s Nine Dash Line idea to justify owning the entire South China Sea. Russia’s thoughts of Ukraine being their’s as well is another example of these ideas and their consequences.
Greater Israel though is the least likely of the three to happen because of just plan numbers. Throw in the geography and it is entirely pointless. Fanatics though will always keep the idea around and get people to comment on it like we are seeing now. This idea has been around for over 100 years now.
The Greater Israel project that seems to be growing in popularity within Israel is annexing Gaza and the West Bank but even that is something I don’t agree with.
'Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has suggested that Israel is destined to expand to include Jordan, and even beyond, to parts of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and even Iraq.
In a documentary film by Arte in 2024, Smotrich said “it is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus.
This view has support in some parts of Israeli society. Israel’s incursions into Jordan and Syria has intensified international concerns that some actors in Israel are pursuing expansion into other countries...
In August 2025, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Israeli TV channel i24News that he was on a "historic and spiritual mission" and that he is "very" attached to the vision of Greater Israel, which includes Palestinian areas and possibly also places that are part of Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon.'
I had never heard of the Greater Israel Project until a few weeks ago - and when you first hear it it seems like some totally insane conspiracy theory, yet there are those who take biblical texts as literal truths and there is clearly support for the idea from the very top of Israels political establishment. With the support of the US military that is evident in the current US/Israeli- Iran conflict, the concept becomes actually a terrifying and apocalyptic explanation for the Gaza genocide and the wider conflict...in fact the entire process of Israeli land grabs since 1936.
Russia has been advancing its claim on Ukraine and China is building a Navy and broader military amid an increasing breakdown of international law and respect for established territorial boundaries.
The US Israeli invasion is widely agreed to be just as much a breach of international law as Putins invasion of Ukraine.
The Greater Israel Project fits into this dystopian new world order where might is right and religious extremists and autocratic war criminals dominate.
USA and Trump are participating in this if not leading it.
Thankfully I’m from the South and am damn proud of it 🫡