Operation Epic Fury (Feb 28 – Apr 8 2026)

38-day US/Israel coordinated kinetic operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trump ordered Feb 27 2026 3:38pm EST aboard Air Force One; strikes commenced Feb 28 ~1:15am EST. Decapitation strike on day 1 killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei + Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh + Khamenei military office head Mohammad Shirazi + SPND head Hossein Jabal Amelian + chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi + former SPND head Reza Mozaffari Nia + former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad + intelligence chief Salah Asadi. IAF struck 500 targets first 24 hours / 1,200 bombs (largest combat sortie in IAF history). 13,000 targets engaged across 38 days; 10,200 sorties. **US losses:** 13 KIA, 381 WIA, 39 aircraft destroyed (24 MQ-9 Reaper drones — 60% of attrition; 4 F-15E Strike Eagles — 3 friendly fire; 1 A-10; 1 E-3G Sentry serial 81-0005 destroyed at Prince Sultan AB Saudi Arabia Mar 27; 1 KC-135 mid-air collision over Iraq Mar 12 — 6 crew killed). **Iranian retaliation:** missile/drone strikes on US bases + Israel + US-allied Arab countries; Strait of Hormuz closed; oil prices surged. **Civilian toll (Iran-side):** 165 killed in Shajarah Tayyebeh primary school strike (Minab, Hormozgan). **Cost:** $25B confirmed by Pentagon Comptroller Jules W. Hurst in Apr 29 2026 House Armed Services Committee testimony alongside Hegseth + Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine. **Ceasefire:** Apr 8 2026 White House announcement, contingent on Strait of Hormuz reopening. Engine treatment: empirical instance of Pax Judaica Operation Validation; Iron Wall doctrine kinetic culmination; Markets-panel Iran-Hormuz claim firing. Per Jiang doctrine: engine REJECTS Israel-as-autonomous-successor reading; the operation is the US/Israel fused-architecture demonstration. Primary sources: CENTCOM Operation Epic Fury Fact Sheet Apr 6 2026, White House releases, Military Times, Britannica 2026 Iran war, Wikipedia Timeline of 2026 Iran war. [merged duplicate node] U.S. + Israel joint military operation against Iran, February 2026. ~13,000 targets engaged in 38 days. Heavy MSS / autonomous-targeting deployment compressing the kill chain to seconds. **Operational-output read (Sixth Prompt, Cycle E):** documented operational deployment of MindWar-doctrine-lineage algorithmic-cognitive-warfare at state-warfighting scale. The Cycle-E equivalent of the doctrinal-output-becoming-physical-deployment pattern that Cycle C completed via Apollo + Cold War missile programs. [Report #175] Verified tactical adds (wire/official-sourced): the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (USS Boxer, Portland, Comstock + 11th MEU ~2,500 Marines, F-35B-capable) deployed from San Diego Mar 20 2026 ~3 weeks early for the Middle East, arriving early July (Stars and Stripes Mar 20; Times of San Diego Jul 5). PEACE-PLAN DISAMBIGUATION (three distinct documents; do not conflate): the US transmitted a 15-POINT plan TO Iran ~Mar 25 via Pakistani intermediaries (dismantle three nuclear sites, end enrichment, suspend ballistic-missile work, curb proxies, fully reopen Hormuz — UANI/The National); Iran floated its own 14-POINT counter-proposal ~May 3 (Al Jazeera); the 14-point MOU signed Jun 17 is the separate concluded instrument already held on this arc. [Live pass Jul 27 2026] US paused ~13 nights of strikes Jul 24 (CENTCOM cited diminishing effect + depleted Patriot inventory per NYT/Axios); CENTCOM disabled two blockade-running tankers; [single-source WSJ] Bahrain/Kuwait reportedly struck Iran directly with UAE cover; a US-UK London meeting is planning a Hormuz maritime-protection coalition. [Live pass Aug 11 2026] The two mediation carriers this node held as 'moribund' both revived Aug 11 (Pakistan's interior minister to Tehran; Qatar 'advanced stage'); the interceptor-scarcity variable turned empirical (Kyiv 0-of-24 intercepted Aug 4-5; US OK'd Ukrainian Patriot production); Senate motion to discharge the Iran war-powers resolution (S.J.Res.181) rejected 49-50 Jul 30.