Here's the Reason Why President Trump Authorized Operation Epic Fury

Today marked a historic victory for not only the United States and Israel, but the Iranian people as well. The U.S. and Israel launched a massive military strike on the Islamic nation overnight Eastern time, striking at military targets and the Iranian leadership. At least 40 members of the Iranian regime leadership have been killed, including the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, according to multiple sources. Khamenei was killed in the Israeli strikes on his compound, per multiple reports.

The strikes came after weeks of speculation that the U.S. would work to help the Iranian people who had risen up against the Ayatollah's regime, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and reports from the nation say tens of thousands of Iranians were killed by security forces, including injured Iranians who were killed in hospitals. Some wondered whether the U.S. would ever launch the attacks.

Now we have more information on why the strikes happened today, from Salem Radio host and CNN contributor Scott Jennings. Jennings is reporting that intelligence indicated Iran was planning strikes on U.S. military and civilian targets in the region, which would have resulted in mass casualties.

🚨🚨Senior Trump Administration officials telling me that credible intelligence indicated Iran planned preemptive missile strikes against US military targets in the region, and against civilian targets as well. Failure to act would’ve resulted in mass US casualties.
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) February 28, 2026

Here's more from CNN:

A senior administration official said today that they believed Iran was preparing to potentially launch preemptive missile strikes, a factor that influenced President Donald Trump’s decision to initiate military action.
“We had indicators that they intended to use it potentially, preemptively, but if not, if not simultaneous, against with any actions against them, immediately against us,” the senior administration official added. “And the president decided he was not going to sit back and allow America’s forces in the region to absorb attacks from conventional missiles.”
“We are not going to be held hostage by them, and we are not going to let them hit us first, because it would have substantially increased the risk to our troops in the region and to our allies,” the official added.
However, a source familiar with the intelligence contradicted that assertion to CNN, saying that there were no indications that the Iranians planned to strike US forces or assets first — unless they were attacked by Israel or the US.

According to the Times of Israel, a senior administration official also said, “We had analysis that basically told us [that] if we sat back and waited to get hit first, the amount of casualties and damage would be substantially higher than if we acted in a preemptive, defensive way to prevent those launches from occurring."

NBC News also reported that Operation Epic Fury likely severely curtailed Iran's ability to launch thousands of missiles at targets in the Middle East, including the U.S. and Israel.

President Trump wants peace, but he also knows this reality: peace sometimes only comes through the use of force. Iran had every intention of harming American and civilian targets in the Middle East, was hellbent on resurrecting their nuclear program, and spent the last 47 years being the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.

Now that regime is broken, the Iranian people have a chance to reform their government, and U.S. interests at home and abroad are safe.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

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