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Foreign Policy > Iran

The Target For Tonight is … Tehran

Amazing what our forces, and Israel's forces, were able to do in one day's work.

Ned Barnett | March 1, 2026

I was all set to lay out what I think will be a near-ideal campaign strategy for midterm election success, a strategy that will allow President Trump to strengthen his political hold over Congress during his last two years as president, something that almost no president has achieved in either the 20th or 21st centuries. 

Then I saw on Fox News that American and Israeli forces had struck Iran, taking out the Ayatollah Ali Khameini and his key staff. America’s aerial contribution to this task saw our fighters and bombers beginning to degrade Iran’s missile capabilities, both in terms of launching them and building them. 

The president also indicated that U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force are actively degrading the Iranian navy. We can also count on our stealth strike bombers to further degrade Iran’s nuclear weapons potential. 

Caught by surprise, all I could think of was, “about time.”

I pledge that I will get back to what President Trump can do to make the midterm elections successful in my next post.  However, if history is any indication, Trump will get credit with Republican and independent voters, along with many rational-minded Democrats, which will help him build up his margins in the House and Senate. 

But keep this in mind: Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) shows that millions of otherwise rational Americans are prone to go “cuckoo for Coco Puffs” whenever Trump does anything praiseworthy.  They’re even talking about invoking the widely discredited War Powers Act of 1973 – another unconstitutional legal topic for another article.

I was surprised, however, by the impact of TDS – along with rampant antisemitism – on the left-leaning public’s attitude about taking out Iran before they could build and launch dirty bombs or even nuclear weapons. 

A snap poll reported on by Fox indicated that only 56 percent of Americans support the first day’s strikes, even though we literally decapitated the ayatollah, and took out his designated successor, along with around 40 of his top military and political leaders.  These targets included those responsible for the mass-deaths that, as Sean Hannity suggested, could be upwards of 50,000 freedom-loving Iranian protestors over the past couple of months.  Those 50,000-plus victims were far more than I’d heard elsewhere, but Hannity has better sources than I do.  Cut the number in half and it’s still genocide.

In any event, we know that the ayatollah’s secret police and Revolutionary Guard forces killed many thousands of Iranians who merely wanted a democratically elected government.  At that time, President Trump told the protestors “Help is on the way,” but frankly, I felt skeptical.  Much as I like his policies, I have a sense that he seems bombastic.  O.K., I admit it, I was wrong.  I’m glad to be wrong.

To the Iranian patriots, our taking out the ayatollah was like a gift from a benevolent God. 

In fact, it was the Israelis whose “intel” spotted the opportunity to take the (ahem) out, and to do so while also taking out his leadership cadre, including his designated successor, his son.  Iran is now (as I write this) telling the world that we also took out several of the ayatollah’s daughters and at least one gender-unspecified grandchild.  I’m sure the ayatollah conducts high-level strategy sessions while bouncing his gender-fluid grandchild on his knee. 

Israel, in the largest airstrike in its nation’s history, took out the evil (ahem) dictator who, for thirty-something years, has been terrorizing the Middle East, along with his own citizens. 

With Israel taking him out, to America was left the military targets along the coast of the Persian Gulf, as well as manufacturing and launching facilities for ICBMs and drones, and no doubt other choice targets.

Makes sense. It was only with tongue-in-cheek irony that I observed the Russian ambassador to the UN condemning the U.S. for this attack, even why, more than four years ago, Russia invaded the Ukraine, a war that is still ongoing.

Another target the U.S. inherited is the Iranian navy, including its shore facilities and its anti-ship rocket and torpedo launchers that line their shoreline, leading up to the Straits of Hormuz. That’s a vital chokepoint for international oil shipments, used by both Iran and the Arab oil countries on the other side of the Persian Gulf.  Countries Iran attacked in retaliation – targeting U.S. bases, but in Arab countries.  Now another five nations, all equipped with American-made and compatible weapons, have joined in the attack on Iran.  Talk about a strategic blunder!

It’s not clear if our Navy is going to take out the storage tanks and piers where Iran ships out oil.  What is clear is that Iran is almost a sole-source supplier of crude oil to the People’s Republic of China, which has a vested interest in keeping the oil flowing.  I’m no fan of the PRC, so I can't help thinking a major disruption of their oil supplies might encourage them to “take” others’ oil supplies. 

Who’s going to tell them “no?” 

Probably us, but that will be a costly battle, especially while we’re involved in neutering Iran.  That’s a battle Trump is in no way eager to take on. In fact, he’s scheduled to visit the PRC in a couple of weeks, a trip that might need to be rescheduled.  He can’t safely be in China while we’re fighting China’s proxy, Iran.

The U.S. Navy’s carrier forces in the area are flying planes that carry weapons that are primarily designed to sink ships and blow up piers and such.  They are literally the right fighting force to take out the right target at the right time. 

Getting back to the current war, I can’t wait to see the bomb damage assessment videos, especially since the attacks occurred in daylight, rather than after dark.  Back in Gulf War I, Americans were gobsmacked to see strike videos where F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters placed bombs through small windows in heavily fortified “bombproof” ground facilities. 

Imagine what can be done thirty-some years later. 

That no American or Israeli planes were shot down on Day One, and no American or Israeli pilots were injured or lost – in a daylight strike – is nothing short of phenomenal.  Still, to keep our combatants safe, I hope they’ll undertake the bulk of future attacks at night, long after dark, where their stealth abilities and infra-red vision gear will be maximized.

One other thing I’m looking forward to is hearing about how basically our entire fleet of B-2 Spirit strategic stealth bombers managed to drop those super bunker busters we used last summer on every nuclear-processing and -refining facility Iran has.  We know where they are, and we know what we can do with them.  So let’s take this opportunity to make sure that, like their sitting-duck navy, Iran will have no hope of creating nuclear weapons, even if the ayatollah’s successors decide they still want to fool around with nukes.

The news is moving fast, and some of this might be superseded by more attacks and more bomb damage assessment.  But until then, this is what we’ve done and what we can look forward to doing.

I am a proud donor to American Thinker, and a subscriber as well.  I hope you’ll consider joining me in this.  You’ll get some remarkable goodies, but I think you’ll also be able to consider American Thinker with pride, as something you help make happen, 365 days a year.

I am, among other things, a military historian.  I’ve got ten military history books on Kindle, and starting later this year, I’ll get them professionally edited and published in print format, as well as ebook format.  My focus is on Naval aviation early in World War II, when the Japanese were unstoppable – except by a relative handful of Navy and Marine aviators who risked it all.  When I’m not writing Military History novels, I’m writing Science Fiction novels – one regarding a remarkable UFO encounter in rural Kentucky is due out later this year.

I also ghostwrite books, blogs, speeches, magazine articles and television commercial scripts – or anything else needing to be written.  I just signed an agreement to ghostwrite a memoir what will be my 20th published ghostwritten book, but I’m always looking for more opportunities to excel.  Contact me at nedbarnett51@gmail.com or 702-561-1167 to discuss how I might help you with a book you can call your own.

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