New satellite images show that Iran was telling the truth about its hits on key missile interceptors in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Of course, the legacy media did not report on the claims until CNN broke the news with new satellite images.
The media has attempted to make Iran into the bad guy, despite the US and Israel illegally attacking it on February 28.
Iran targeting military infrastructure
The mainstream media can no longer avoid the fact that Iran is aiming to degrade air defences. It is destroying US-made radars which detect incoming missiles and drones. It is not aiming to murder countless innocent civilians — unlike Israel and the US, which have bombed schools, hospitals, and football stadiums.
During the first few days of the war, Iran struck and destroyed the radar system for an American US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile battery at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
Iran hit two similar buildings in the UAE — but it is unclear whether the strikes damaged equipment.
The THAAD system destroys ballistic missiles at the edge of the atmosphere. This enables them to engage more difficult threats than shorter-range Patriot batteries. According to CNN:
With this AN/TPY-2 radar out of commission, missile interception duties will fall onto the Patriot systems, for which PAC-3 missiles are already in short supply.
In total, the US operates eight THAAD batteries. The UAE operates two, and Saudi Arabia one.
The satellite images show that it probably took multiple attempts for Iran to hit the system in Jordan, which is split across five 40-foot trailers. It appears that Iran has destroyed or seriously damaged all of them.
Similarly, near Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, satellite images show smoke rising from a radar site where dozens of American planes are stationed. A tent used to shelter the THAAD system can be seen badly scarred, with debris scattered around it.
In the UAE, Iran’s strikes badly damaged at least three buildings at a military installation near Ruwais, and four at an installation in Sader between February 28 and March 1.
The US cannot easily replace the radar systems. According to the 2025 Missile Defense Agency budget, they cost just under half a billion dollars.
Make it make sense
Of course, it doesn’t make sense that the media did not report the claims without CNN’s satellite images — despite knowing for a fact that both Trump and Netanyahu are pathological liars.
Trump has lied more times than I can count — from claiming he had secured $18tn of investment into the US, to claiming 25 million undocumented immigrants went to the US under Biden.
Similarly, Neyenyahu has repeatedly claimed that the IDF does not target the homes of civilians. Footage has repeatedly shown Israeli soldiers bombing family homes and shooting and killing Palestinians, showing no threat.
Of course, Iranians lie. And during a war, we should expect that all sides are exaggerating one thing and downplaying another.
But the default is always to assume the Iranians are lying — even with both men’s histories of truth-avoidance.
It is absurd that the media is treating them as less credible than America and Israel. However, this is the mainstream media doing what they have always done — and what they do best.
For the last two years of Israel’s genocide, the Netanyahu mouthpiece media in the West have continuously pushed Zionist propaganda. And in Israel and its collaborators’ fucked up version of reality, Iran was always going to be the bad guy.
Because ultimately, it’s any resistance to Israel that threatens the US’s imperialist ambitions in the region. In that context, giving fair coverage is undoubtedly too much to ask.
Feature image via the Canary
By HG
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