The Silver Lining in the Dark War Cloud Over Iran
13 June 2025 by Larry C. Johnson
Israel’s unjustified and unprovoked attack on Iran early Friday morning, marks the full-on start of a war that is likely to change the face of the region. I mince no words… this is war. But there is a silver lining of sorts — with Israel having to use its air squadrons to launch repeated attacks on Iran and to scramble fighters into the air to try to stop Iranian drones and missiles, the Palestinians in Gaza will get a respite from daily bombings.
So, what is happening? Israel’s initial strike included the use of trailer-truck drones — the same tactic that “Ukraine” used on June 1 against Russia’s strategic air assets. Israel appears to have had more success than the Ukrainians because the Zionist drones carried out some successful assassinations of senior Iranian military leaders and some prominent nuclear scientists. If you think that Israel came up with this idea on its own, you are deluding yourself.
We still do not have a clear picture of how much damage the Israeli bombs/air-launched missiles inflicted across Iran, but the attack was significant in its scale and scope. That said, it did not cripple Iran’s ability to strike back, which it did late on Friday and early Saturday Jerusalem time. Iran also did some significant damage to Israel, reportedly striking Israel’s military headquarters building in Tel Aviv and successfully hitting three Israeli military airfields.
In the world of the so-called international rules-based order, Israel is guilty of an unprovoked attack and Iran, in accordance with Chapter VII, Article 51 of the UN Charter, is retaliating appropriately. Yet, the West is condemning Iran and gaslighting the public regarding Israel’s claim that this was an act of self-defense. Bollocks!
I believe that Israel’s attack was part of a planned international intelligence and military operation, which included the participation and support of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. We got the first clue on May 31, when a UN watchdog issued two reports designed to create a narrative that Iran is a rogue nuclear state:
This tactic was employed in 2002/2003 to gin up a justification to attack Iraq, who the US insisted had weapons of mass destruction. We now know it was a lie, but the propaganda was effective in producing support in the US and Europe to invade Iraq. We’re seeing a similar effort today, only this time Iran is being falsely accused of enriching uranium to build a bomb. The Iraq WMD lie, like the current calumny against Iran, only has one purpose… justify military action in order to achieve regime change.
As was the case with Ukraine’s failed attack on Russian strategic air assets on June 1, Israel’s first swipe at Iran was accompanied by AI-generated videos and images, along with breathless reports of massive, profound damage. While it is true that Israel hit a large number of targets in Iran, the attack failed to cripple Iran’s ability to fight back; which is exactly what it did today and will continue to do for the foreseeable future.
I think that Iran has an advantage over Israel when it comes to a sustained military campaign based on air and missile assets. Iran has more drones and more missiles than Israel. Israel, at least for now, is relying on hitting Iran with its squadrons of F-35s and F-16s. Here is the problem: Israel’s air capability will degrade over time as the jet aircraft suffer mechanical failures from extended use and normal maintenance.
As of the most recent data (2024–2025), the F-35 Lightning II requires about 10–14 hours of maintenance for each hour of flight time, depending on the variant and operating conditions. Despite improvements over the past few years, the F-35 still requires significantly more maintenance than legacy fighters like the F-16, which typically needs about 5–6 maintenance hours per flight hour. The total flight time from Israel to Iran’s border, and back, is a little more than three hours. Do the math… every F-35 used to attack Iran will be undergoing maintenance for at least 30 hours. I doubt that Israel will be able to sustain its current operations tempo for more than a week.
Iran, on the other hand, has a clear advantage with ballistic missiles and drones. One tactic that Iran may employ is to fire older missiles and drones in a first or second wave attack in order to deplete Israel’s air-defense system. Iran can then follow up with launches of hypersonic missiles. If Russia, China or North Korea decide to resupply Iran, then Israel’s ability to fend off future attacks will deteriorate.
Russia, according to BORZZIKMAN, has issued a stern warning to the Trump administration. Details of the warning are included in the following video:
The Zionists are in a bind militarily because their defense assets are already stretched to the breaking point. Israel lacks the strategic depth to sustain robust operations in Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon and Syria, while trying to continue launching air assaults on Iran.
I discussed the war on Iran with Nima, Judge Napolitano, and Jyotsihman in three separate interviews today:
