Why Operation Epic Fury Is the Opening Act of the Indo-Pacific Century

Zineb Riboua | Beyond the Ideological | Feb 28, 2026

Xi Jinping meets with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei. January 23, 2016. Photo by Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia

Iran is most often discussed as a nonproliferation problem, a sponsor of terrorism, a regional spoiler. Each of these framings captures a real problem, but none captures what matters most. The nuclear file, the militia archipelago stretching from Lebanon to Yemen, the question of Gulf security architecture: these only acquire their full meaning when read against the backdrop of Chinese grand strategy.

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Qatar strikes Iran while Israel expects Saudi Arabia to join war | IDF attacks during election of new Iranian leader | No victims, limited damage in missile attacks from Iran & Hezbollah

All Israel News Staff | Published: March 3, 2026

17:12 – Pakistan reminds Iran of defense pact with Saudi Arabia to stop further attacks

Nuclear-armed Pakistan has stressed its defense pact with Saudi Arabia in talks with the Iranian leadership, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said at a news conference in Islamabad on Tuesday.

“I informed the Iranian side about our defense agreement,” said Dar, “The Iranian side said Saudi Arabia should ensure that its territory is not used against Iran.”

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Peloni:  Brilliant demonstration that Israel continues to command complete military dominance over the most secure and sensitive aspects of Iran’s leadership, even after having eliminate more than three dozen of its most senior leadership in the opening salvo of the war.

Assembly of Experts is clerical body responsible for choosing next Iranian Supreme Leader

All Israel News Staff | Published: March 3, 2026

Iran’s Assembly of Experts was struck by Israel while a votes were being counted to determine who would lead Iran next. Mar 3, 2026. Screengrab via X.

The Israeli Air Force struck a building in Qom, Iran, being used by the Assembly of Experts, the body of religious leaders responsible for choosing the next Supreme Leader, Israeli officials told media outlets on Monday.

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Iran’s Missile Capability is Significantly Degraded

Below please find an up to date analysis of the number of missiles fired by Iran. The information was assembled from AI sources plus the author’s own input.

The US and Israel are focusing on destroying Iranian launchers (typically mobile TELs or Transporter, Erector, Launchers). I would expect much more attrition of launchers in the coming few days.

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Peloni: Tony Badran, a foremost authority on the Levant and new editor at Tablet magazine, criticizes the Trump administration’s strategic endgame for the war with Iran, named Operation Epic Fury, as it remains unclear and internally contradictory. Trump described the justification for the war by condemning the Iranian regime’s five?decades long hostility toward the United States, describing the campaign as both a punishment for Iran’s “Death to America” state policy as well as a chance for the Iranian people’s “hour of freedom.” However, despite this initial rhetoric, Badran highlights that Trump’s stated goals have since become ambiguous as he has both signaled limited, punitive objectives and floated broader visions for regime change.

Badran relates this emerging uncertainty with Trump’s historical skepticism of nation?building and his preference for decisive, limited military actions. He outlines several possible Trump post-conflict options including maintaining a weakened IRGC regime with which negotiations might resume (“Venezuela option”), decimating Iran’s command structure leaving internal forces to determine the country’s future, or a hybrid approach that risks strengthening the IRGC under U.S. protection.

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Peloni:  It has been an important reality that Israel’s entire body politic has remained steadfast in support of the policy of eliminating the Iranian threat.  The role being played by J Street sets it apart from any support of Israel in a fundamental and significant aspect, as well importantly explained by Moshe Phillips in the below column.

Its repeated criticism of actions of self-defense—and now, its opposition to the elimination of a nuclear threat—raise real questions about its priorities.

Moshe Phillips

Iranian missile strikes Tel Aviv. Feb 28, 2026. Screengrab via Youtube. 

Echoes of some of the very darkest periods of recent Jewish history reverberated in the statements made by anti-Zionist Jews over the weekend of the initial phases of joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

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Peloni:  The borderline with Lebanon needs to be extended northwards.  The active and continued threat from Hezbollah attacks has been demonstrated to be real and ongoing, and internationally imposed ceasefires have simultaneously failed to mature into anything more than a pause between missile barrages without Hezbollah surrendering a single rifle or rocket, demonstrating that peaceful conditions are not possible under the current arrangement.

IDF kills Iranian Quds Force commander leading Hezbollah’s rearmament

All Israel News Staff | Published: March 3, 2026

Hezbollah Command Center attacked. March 3, 2026. Screengrab via Youtube

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered Lebanese territory on Tuesday, in an operation aimed at seizing high ground that could be used by Hezbollah to fire on Israeli communities.

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Peloni: PM Netanyahu highlights the following:

* Joint Israel-US campaign against Iran will be short.

* Campaign aims include regional stability, not a prolonged conflict.

* Praise for Pres. Trump’s leadership, crediting him for a peaceful vision

* Iranian terror network targets US interests.

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Rabbi Jacob Herzog | X | Mar 2, 2026

Image via X

* There is neither security nor safety in Jordan, unfortunately. More Iranian rockets are falling on Jordan, and there will be casualties, unfortunately, while the government is hiding everything up to now and concealing the number of injured. Meanwhile, the king’s family and all his relatives have fled the country and are now in Europe.

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Peloni: A description of the growing isolation between the US and its erstwhile allies in North America and Europe in the struggle against the CCP and Jihadism.  America needs to react to these realities or risk becoming swallowed by its the institutionalize failures among the nations of the Free World to actually keep the world free.

Increasingly, countries that were once U.S. allies are aligning themselves with America’s enemies.

Janet Levy | Am Thinker | March 2, 2026

The signs were obvious two decades ago, and the insightful Mark Steyn—the conservative Canadian author—addressed them then. In numerous books, written in his sharp, convincing style, he warned that America would soon become isolated in its fight against Islamist jihad. Today, that loneliness appears to be fully realized.

His 2006 book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, convincingly argued that much of the Western world would not survive the 21st century. Europe, with its declining birthrate, would be the first to go—thanks to white people being “too self-absorbed to breed,” while Muslims worked to change the demographics in their favor.

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Arlene Kushner | March 2, 2026

Image via Youtube

This past Shabbat was Shabbat Zahor. On that Shabbat, we are required to read a specific section from a second scroll, in addition to the regular Torah reading:

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Rabbi Jacob Herzog | X | Mar 1, 2026

Rabbi Jacob Herzog. Image via X

* I advise all Jews present in the United Arab Emirates to immediately use their Western passports and exit by land via the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Peloni:  The current circumstances provide for an important opportunity to neutralize the Iranian aligned militias in Iraq, thus freeing Iraq from Iran’s control.

Iranian-backed militias have launched a series of drone attacks targeting US bases in Iraq, raising the question: has Iraq become the next frontline in the widening Iran war?

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN | MARCH 1, 2026 

The Iraqi pro-Iranian group Saraya Awliya Al Dam claims responsibility for attacks on a U.S. base near Iraq’s Erbil airport on Mar 1, 2026. Screengrab via Youtube

Iranian-backed militias are targeting US forces in Iraq. The Iranian-linked group Saraya Awliya Al-Dam claimed to have targeted American bases in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq, on March 1. Numerous reports in Erbil said they heard explosions in and around the airport. This appears to be how Iran is seeking to expand the war to Iraq.

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Peloni:  Israel’s Shield of Light Laser system is now functioning in the field as seen below.  This technology gives Israel a clear and substantive advantage over all comers, which represents an important shift in battlefield capabilities, and these capabilities will only grow with time.  As Yossi Baum explains, it is impossible to over emphasize the importance of this achievement.

Yossi Baum | X | March 1, 2026

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It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of interception by laser – Israel’s “Magen Or” (“Shield of Light”) system.

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Peloni:  A stirring and honest reflection on how America’s Iranian nemesis was left to grow without restraint for decades, as it mocked American fecklessness.  So well described.

Iran’s regime used to brag America was helpless.

by Daniel Greenfield | Mar 2, 2026

Blast site where Khamenei and dozens of the Iranian leadership were eliminated. Screengrab via X

In June 2025, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told his regime at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini that Iran’s nuclear program would go on regardless of President Trump. “Our response to the US nonsense is clear: they cannot do a damn thing in this matter.”

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