THE White House imposed a ‘media blackout’ as President Donald Trump was closeted with his national security team late on Friday, after a day of shocking losses for the US which saw several aerial assets hit in the Persian Gulf and raised a question mark over Secretary of War (Crimes) Pete Hegseth’s claim that the US and Israel own the skies over Iran.

The meeting came with an F-15 shot down over Iranian territory, and an A-10, with its titanium-reinforced armoured structure for low-flying ground support missions brought down over the Gulf; an F-16 was hit too but was able to limp back to its base in a Gulf state. Two Black Hawk helicopters were hit by small arms fire injuring the crew and damaging the engines, though managing to stay airborne long enough to make it to Kuwait for an emergency landing.

Of particular concern to the Americans would be the fate of one of the two-man crew of the F-15 shot down over western Iran as, till the writing of these lines, he was missing while the other was rescued by a US Combat Search and Rescue special operations team. The team’s two helicopters were hit and landed in Kuwait. Whether the rescue teams were able to pluck the missing airman to safety or the Iranians captured him is an issue that may dictate some of America’s next decisions — either further escalation including ground operations or a sudden de-escalation where the US cuts its losses and backs off.

Given the hold the apartheid state of Israel enjoys over Trump, the first scenario appears more likely. As Gen Keane, a military analyst of FoxNews which works hand-in-glove with the Israelis, said: “All the generals around President Trump are telling him........

© Dawn