Inside Operation Epic Fury: How was Israel able to strike the Ayatollah’s compound despite Iran’s fearsome air defences?

In the last part of the program Daily Mail’s War on TapeForeign correspondent Chris Pleasance describes the opening salvo of the Iran war, in which Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in a ‘decapitation’ attack.

At 9:45 a.m. local time last Saturday, the United States and Israel launched a joint bombing campaign against Iran with the aim of crippling the Islamic Republic enough to provoke regime change.

The first twelve hours of America’s Epic Operation Fury and Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion proved to be a devastating success. Nearly 900 attacks hit several key military infrastructures, including Revolutionary Guard bases, ports and nuclear facilities.

The biggest victory of the early stages of the conflict for the United States and Israel was undoubtedly the death of Khamenei. The Ayatollah and several senior members of his regime lost their lives after Israeli F-16 fighter jets managed to infiltrate Iran’s formidable air defense network and reduced the House of Leadership to rubble.

The biggest victory of the early stages of the conflict for the United States and Israel was undoubtedly the death of Khamenei.

The Ayatollah and several senior members of his regime lost their lives after Israeli F-16 fighter jets managed to penetrate Iran’s fearsome air defense network.

Show host Pleasance Outlined two leading theories about how the US and Israel were able to disable Iran’s air defense network It’s too easy, despite years of preparation for the attack.

He explained: ‘For the attack to be successful, Iran’s air defenses had to be disabled; We don’t know exactly how this happens.

One way would be an initial strike by US and Israeli F-35s flying from Nevatim airbase, as well as Jordanian aircraft carrier Lincoln.

‘The F-35 is a stealth jet that is virtually invisible to enemy radar. They were designed to hunt and destroy air defense systems.

‘F-22s would probably join them. These are also stealth aircraft, but they have a slightly different role. They are air superiority fighters that protect the F-35 from Iranian jets trying to shoot them down.

‘Once Iran’s defenses were destroyed, the way would be opened for the next attack.’

Alternatively, a cyberattack could cripple Iran’s air defenses before a single plane leaves the ground; this was a tactic in the combined arsenal of the Mossad and the CIA; The CIA’s intelligence had already proven decisive in choosing the precise moment of the attack.

Listen to the last episode of the program Daily Mail’s Tape War by clicking here

A daytime attack would normally raise eyebrows. But Israel knew exactly when Khamenei would meet with his top commanders, and this intelligence was enough for Trump to push the entire operation forward for hours.

“The United States and Israel are masters of this type of war,” Pleasance said. ‘They released the Stuxnet virus into Iran sometime before 2010.’

Although never officially attributed to any state, Stuxnet destroyed approximately 1,000 Iranian centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facility, causing the systems to disintegrate themselves while appearing to be operating normally, setting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions back years.

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