With the way the American aircraft are flying (speed/altitude), there are definitely attack aircraft in a loitering state flying cover. The first hint of an anti-air asset will draw massive attack. The Iranians are undoubtedly aware of that.
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Why pilots for this ?
A capable military leader would have just used more drones to obliterate what remains of Iran’s air defenses totally.
Why even risk pilots for this ? Use the same strategy as what Iran is using.
What’s RTB ?
Return to base
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That’s general Yakovleff. He was the highest ranked French officer in NATO. He’s known on french tv to not sugarcoat anything. Most of his comments are like this. You always have a good laugh.
Btw he did not say ”american officials should stop sniffing cocaine between meetings”.
He said if a planner told him he has the great idea to build a functional airbase there, he would have said ”dude stop sniffing cocaine on your desk between meetings”
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That’s around $750mi assets damaged or destroyed. 
I hate that I’m having to hope that a repressive regime like the igrc has to survive.
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Yes, we live in a dire time when IRGC are the saviors, Pakistan is the peacemaker.
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Pakistan or more specifically aq khan gave the know how to Iran in the first place. But then , they somehow always slip out of cracks
Rumour to be decided, I think.
Something like that.
The “squark RTB” really doesn’t belong on this list. These jets are old they’re always breaking that’s just normal.
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Reading some forums, you’d think this missing pilot was only a victim of the IRGC regime, with no space at all for the uncomfortable reality that war cuts both ways and that the bombs he likely dropped also had human consequences on the ground.
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Richard Ojeda ·
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Y e s t e r d a y a t 1 9 : 5 6 ·
Let me tell you something, because this right here should make every American stop and pay attention.
Pete Hegseth just said the United States is going to “negotiate with bombs.”
Think about that.
Not diplomacy.
Not leadership.
Not strategy.
Bombs.
As someone who served 24 years in the United States Army, I need you to hear me when I say this…
That’s not negotiation. That’s escalation.
And once that starts, you don’t get to control where it ends.
I’ve been there. I’ve watched what happens when politicians and people in suits start talking tough about war like it’s some kind of game. I’ve seen young men and women board planes thinking they’re going to make a difference, only to come home broken… or not come home at all.
That’s the part they don’t talk about.
They’ll stand behind podiums and tell you they’ve hit 11,000 targets. They’ll tell you they’ve “crippled” Iran’s military. They’ll talk about leverage and pressure and strategy.
But they won’t tell you about the families waiting by the phone.
They won’t tell you about the knock on the door.
They won’t tell you about the kids growing up without a parent because somebody in Washington decided bombs were a form of negotiation.
And here’s what makes this even worse.
They’re sending more troops into the region. Marines. 82nd Airborne. My brothers and sisters.
Not because there’s a clear mission.
Not because there’s a plan to win.
But because they want to be “unpredictable.”
That’s not strength. That’s reckless.
You don’t use American troops as a bargaining chip. You don’t gamble with their lives to make a point at a negotiating table.
Where I come from, you protect what matters.
And our troops matter.
No doubt about it, we have the strongest military in the world. If you give our troops a mission, they will execute it. They always do.
But the real question is…
Will this make us safer?
Or are we just lighting the fuse on another forever war?
Because I’ve seen this story before.
It starts with big talk.
It turns into bombs.
And it ends with flag-draped coffins and politicians pretending they didn’t know how it would play out.
Hell no.
We don’t “negotiate with bombs.” We send our sons and daughters into danger when it is absolutely necessary, with a clear mission and a real plan.
Anything less than that is a betrayal of every person who has ever worn the uniform.
And I’m not going to sit back and stay quiet while they try to sell this to the American people like it’s normal.
Not on my watch.
Sappers clear the way. Airborne all the way.
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https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/2040567546428952848
https://x.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/2040563822784647473
https://x.com/kenklippenstein/status/2040630033107112092
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Seems like the stuff for a good movie.
anyway, this probably gives the Israeli’s a bit more of a green light to attempt covert operations considering that the americans were able to send in a covert team and get the pilot out.