Putting lipstick on a pig is the only way to describe the Trump administration’s systematic failures in dealing with the fallout from a failed Iran War!
This article is part of a five-part series detailing the Trump administration’s total, systemic failures in its Iran campaign. From (1) trying to decapitate Iran, only to engineer Mojtaba Khamenei’s rise, and the emergence of hardline IRGC leadership into key roles governing Iran, to (2) a failed attempt to capture Iran’s Uranium that now, in retrospect, looks more like a Jimmy Carter’s failed desert hostage rescue mission, to (3) the obliteration of US bases in the region with not only billions of dollars of damage but also – more importantly – the serious loss of electronic surveillance and guidance systems which will take years to restore. And then (4) we look at Trump’s failure to blockade the Straits of Hormuz and his aborted series of negotiations.
Trump has made the situation inside Iran much worse. He has added no value to the US or its allies. In a final, (5), conclusive article we explore how, without a visible or viable off-ramp, and a near total collapse of the world (and regional) economies, Trump may choose (or has already chosen) to either – directly or indirectly – nuke Iran, causing devastation on a scale never seen by mankind, leading to the death of over 10 million Iranians and large parts of Iran rendered totally uninhabitable for centuries – and precipitating the start of World War III, and the end of the American empire.
For me, with the evidence so blatant and openly available, what is incredibly baffling is the total lack of congressional oversight and control. How can a rogue President conduct such an expensive, failed campaign for over 60 days without challenge? This is not only a systematic failure of the Trump administration to conduct a campaign against Iran, but also a systematic failure of governance in America – and the whole world (with no real oversight by the UN Security Council, or other allied leadership). It is a failure on an unprecedented scale.
I implore you to read all 5 articles and decide for yourself.
On February 28, 2026, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the longtime Supreme Leader of Iran, was assassinated in a high-precision joint operation by Israel and the United States. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has since been named the new Supreme Leader and was gravely injured in the same attack and remains in a critical and disfigured state.
The mission relied on strategic location data from the CIA and other US intelligence services. US military cyber-attacks reportedly paved the way for the Israeli aircraft.
The operation was a coordinated strike aimed at decapitating the Iranian regime’s top leadership while Khamenei and senior security officials were meeting at a compound in central Tehran that houses the offices and residence of the supreme leader, Iran’s president, and the country’s National Security Council. Israeli jets launched approximately 30 precision-guided munitions.
The air strikes, which targeted Khamenei and his top defense officials, took place on Saturday at around 9:40 am in Tehran (06:10 GMT). Ali Khamenei was killed within 60 seconds along with several top security leaders and family members. His death was confirmed by the Iranian government on March 1.
According to The New York Times, citing anonymous sources familiar with the operation, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had gathered information about a Saturday morning meeting there that would include Khamenei and the country’s senior military cadre. The CIA then shared the information with Israel. CBS, also citing an anonymous official, reported that the CIA shared Khamenei’s location data with Israel.
In US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social statement in the wake of Khamenei’s killing, he wrote that the late leader “was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do”.
It is unclear if the US intercepted phone or other digital communications, used satellite imagery, or used covert human agents to obtain this information.
It is also unclear why the country’s most senior military leaders decided to gather in a predictable location while threats of a US-Israel attack were imminent.
It is known, however, that Israel has long recruited covert operatives in Iran and was watching Khamenei’s circle for years, gathering information as mundane as how and where they get food, an unnamed ex-CIA official told The Guardian. During the 12-day war last June, six Iranian nuclear scientists were killed, some in their homes.
Analyst Rosemary Kelanic, speaking to Canadian public broadcaster CBC, said the US probably used a “combination of human intelligence on the ground, potentially through Israeli assets, as well as signals intelligence and the ability of the United States to use over-the-horizon and, in this case, local assets to target pretty much anywhere on the planet that it wants to hit”.
The CIA had also been tracking Khamenei’s location for months, according to The Times, even before the 12-day war. Since that conflict, the US has intensified its surveillance of Khamenei, as well as of the IRGC, in general, monitoring how officials communicated and moved during stress periods, the Times reported.
Trump had also referred to US intelligence regarding the supreme leader’s location last year.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said on June 17, posting on his Truth Social platform amid the Iran-Israel conflict that lasted from June 13 to 24.
“He is an easy target but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin,” Trump posted.
At the time, Israel presented a plan to kill Khamenei, but Trump rejected it, fearing wider regional conflict, according to reporting by The Associated Press, which cited officials familiar with the talks.
How did the strike on Khamenei unfold?
Although Israel and the US had planned to hit the country at night to take advantage of darkness, as was the method during the 12-day war’s Operation Midnight Hammer, the CIA’s information about the gathering moved up the timing of Saturday’s attacks, the Times reported.
It is understood that Israel unilaterally launched the attack on Khamenei, using US intelligence, according to reports by multiple US media outlets.
Speaking to CBS, Republican Congressman Mike Turner said the US was not directly involved in the killing. Turner said he had confirmed from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who “was very clear in the answer that we did not target Khamenei, and we were not targeting the leadership in Iran”.
According to media reports, Israeli fighter jets took off from a base in Israel around 6:00am local time (04:00 GMT) on Saturday. It is unclear how many aircraft were involved or how many bombs were dropped, but it was reported there had been “a few” fighter jets all armed with “long-range and highly accurate munitions”.
Their travel to Iran took about two hours, at which point they dropped bombs on the Tehran compound where Khamenei was located. While the top military officials had gathered in one building at the time of the hit, Khamenei was in another building nearby, The Times reported.
Simultaneously, the US military’s Cyber Command division appeared to block communications signals in Iran. In his briefing after the killing, Dan Caine, the US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said “the first movers were US Cybercom and US Spacecom, layering non-kinetic effects, disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran’s ability to see, communicate and respond.”
Satellite imagery of the compound following the strikes showed smoke rising from the rubble of the buildings.
On Sunday, Iranian authorities announced a three-member leadership council to temporarily lead the country: President Masoud Pezeshkian; the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei; and a member of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi.
About a dozen members of Khamenei’s family and close entourage, along with 40 other senior Iranian leaders, died in the Saturday attacks, military officials in Israel told The Guardian newspaper in the UK.
At least 13 top defense officials were confirmed killed at the Saturday meeting and in targeted strikes on other locations on the same day, including:
- Mohammad Pakpour, Commander of the IRGC.
- Azis Nasirzadeh, Defense Minister.
- Ali Shamkani, Head of the National Defense Council.
- Seyyed Majid Mousavi, Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force.
- Abdolrahim Mousavi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces.
- Mohammad Shirazi, Head of Military Office of the Supreme Leader.
- Salah Asadi – Head of the Intelligence Directorate.
- Hossein Habal Amelian – Chairman of the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).
- Reza Mozaffari Nia, Former SPND Chairman.
- Mohammad Baseri, Senior Intelligence Official.
- Bahram Hosseini Motlagh, Head of Operations Planning, General Staff of Armed Forces.
- Gholamreza Rezian, Commander of Police Intelligence.
- Mohsen Darrebaghi, Deputy for Logistics and Support, General Staff of Armed Forces.
A Harder Line Team Takes Over
Not long after this strike, Mojtaba Khamenei, Khamenei’s son, was ‘selected’ as the new Supreme Leader. Mojtaba had survived the blast but was severely wounded, with current reports indicating he is heavily incapacitated.
Reports state his face and lips were severely burned, making it difficult for him to speak and requiring future plastic surgery. One of his legs has reportedly undergone three surgeries, and he may require a prosthetic limb. He also underwent surgery on one hand and is reportedly regaining limited function.
There are reports that he remains mentally sharp and is participating in governance via audio conferencing; other intelligence memos suggest he has been unconscious and incapacitated at times.
Not to be forgotten is that, besides the injuries he has suffered, and in addition to his father, he lost his mother, wife, and daughter in this attack. To say he has a grudge now and will be far more potent against the US and Israel is to put it very mildly.
Far from decapitating the regime, Trump has, in effect, put in place a much more militant, harder-line team in power in Iran, with a real grudge. Mojtaba now seems like a nefarious character out of a James Bond movie, with a disfigured face and real potential to translate evil intentions into catastrophic destruction. It’s scary.
Trump’s attempt to decapitate Iran has failed miserably. This is a horrible outcome. To pretend that this was a success in any way is to put lipstick on this pig!! It’s a lie, it’s a deception.
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