U.S. Destroys Iran’s Biggest Bridge. F-15 Shot Down Despite Trump’s “No Anti-aircraft” Weapons Claim. IDF Won’t Join Ground War

President Trump escalated the war against Iran on behalf of Israel a day after he threatened the nation’s civilian infrastructure during his frightening nationwide address. 

U.S. forces have destroyed the largest bridge in the country. During his oration, Trump promised to continue pounding Iran for at least two weeks if it doesn’t capitulate to American demands.

And today, despite Trump’s claim that Iran had “no anti-aircraft equipment,” Iran shot down a U.S. Air Force F-15. A special operations detachment rescued one crew member and the other is missing.

Meanwhile, The Times of Israel revealed that the Israel Defense Forces will duck into the bushes if the United States begins ground operations.

Iran Better Wake Up

Trump’s alarming speech portended a major escalation and unlimited warfare against civilians.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” he said:

We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.

That escalation has apparently begun with the destruction of the brand new B1 Bridge in Tehran. It is “a key link between Iran’s capital and the western city of Karaj, is considered the tallest in the Middle East and was only inaugurated earlier this year,” Fox News observed.

“The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!” Trump crowed on Truth Social yesterday:

IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY! 

Another threat followed at 11:15 p.m. last night:

Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants! New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!

Iran has threatened to retaliate against bridges in nearby U.S.-allied nations.

Strike Eagle Down

Today, Iran shot down an F-15 Strike Eagle, a fighter also used to attack ground targets. Axios reported that U.S. special forces rescued one of the aviators. The Iranian regime has offered a reward for the capture of the other.

“The American military was scrambling to find the second aviator after a regional governor offered a bounty for its crew,” NBC News reported:

Two U.S. military helicopters that were involved in search and rescue efforts were also struck by Iranian fire, but the service members were unharmed, according to a U.S. official.

But the $90 million-plus jet never should have been in danger, if Trump was right when he spoke two days ago. “They have no anti-aircraft equipment,” Trump claimed:

Their radar is 100% annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force.

Israel: We’ll Sit This One Out

As for what is likely a coming ground war given the deployment of U.S. Marines and the Army’s storied 82nd Airborne Division, Israel won’t be bothered, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pushing Trump to bomb Iran on Israel’s behalf.

“With the US preparing options for a potential ground operation in Iran, Israel is unlikely to contribute manpower to the effort — a prospect that has drawn criticism among the American public but, experts say, reflects strategic calculations and operational realities,” the Times of Israel disclosed on April Fool’s Day:

Since Israeli troops are already engaged on two active battle fronts close to home, the idea of dispatching thousands more soldiers to a state thousands of miles away, a gambit the Israel Defense Forces has never before undertaken, is seen as a non-starter.

Ground War Coming

As The New American reported early this week, Frank McKenzie, the retired Marine Corps general and former chief of the U.S. Central Command that is managing the war, strongly suggested on Face the Nation that U.S. troops would land in Iran. One target would be the center of Iran’s oil production, Kharg Island.

A report in The Washington Post confirmed McKenzie’s commentary.

“The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, U.S. officials said, as thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle East for what could become a dangerous new phase of the war should President Donald Trump choose to escalate,” the newspaper reported:

Any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials. All spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive military plans that have been in development for weeks.

As well, Axios reporter Barak Ravid — a former Israeli Army intelligence operative — reported that the Pentagon is preparing a “final blow” on Iran.

The plans include the following:

• Invading or blockading Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub.

• Invading Larak, an island that helps Iran solidify its control of the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic outpost hosts Iranian bunkers, attack craft that can blow up cargo ships and radars that monitor movements in the strait.

• Seizing the strategic island of Abu Musa and two smaller islands, which lie near the western entrance to the strait and are controlled by Iran but also claimed by the UAE.

• Blocking or seizing ships that are exporting Iranian oil on the eastern side of the Hormuz Strait. …

• The U.S. military has also prepared plans for ground operations deep inside the interior of Iran to secure the highly enriched uranium buried within nuclear facilities.

But again, as with the war in Iraq, the bemedaled heroes of the IDF will watch as Americans fight and die.