President Donald Trump characterized Operation Epic Fury as a successful military operation that is “nearing completion” in his address to the nation on Wednesday evening.
Although he struck a celebratory tone — lauding, for instance, American armed forces’ “swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield” — Trump suggested that the increasingly unpopular conflict will continue for at least two or three more weeks, during which time the U.S. will purportedly “bring [Iran] back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”
‘Hollywood delusions have so poisoned your minds.’
While well-received by some in America — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), for instance, said that it was “the best speech I could’ve hoped for” — remnants of the Iranian regime were less receptive to Trump’s remarks.
Tasnim News Agency, a state media outfit associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that Amir Hatami, the commander in chief of the Iranian Regular Armed Forces, advised his subordinates to “monitor enemy movements and actions with maximum vigilance, analyzing them moment by moment, and to implement countermeasures against enemy assaults at the appropriate time.”
Hatami reportedly noted further that in the event of a ground invasion into Iran, “not a single individual should survive.”
RELATED: Trump says Iran asked for a ceasefire — but the US has one major condition
Explosion in Tehran. Contributor/Getty Images
In addition to vowing counterattacks, Hatami framed Trump’s speech as confirmation that the U.S. and Israel intend to “erase Iran’s name and existence.”
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, shared a statement on X stressing that Iranians “give everything — everything we’ve got — for the land we love.”
“We are not warmongers,” continued Ghalibaf. “But when the time comes to defend our homeland, every last one of us becomes a soldier.”
The speaker claimed that roughly seven million Iranians have committed to picking up arms in defense of their country. He then concluded with the challenge, “Bring it on.”
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters — the outfit that coordinates Iran’s joint military operations — said in a video statement on Thursday that American and Israeli intelligence about Iranian military might “is incomplete” and that their alleged faulty assumptions “will only deepen the quagmire in which you have trapped yourselves.”
Zolfaghari suggested further that “this war will continue until your humiliation, disgrace, permanent regret, definite defeat, and surrender.”
Seyed Majid Moosavi, an Iranian military commander presently running the IRGC Aerospace Force, said in response to War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s echo of Trump’s “Stone Age” threat, “It is you who are taking your soldiers to their graves, not Iran, whom you seek to drag back to the Stone Age. Hollywood delusions have so poisoned your minds that, with your paltry 250-year history, you threaten a civilization over 6,000 years old.”
While Iranian regimists responded especially poorly to Trump’s speech, oil prices and the markets also reacted in an unfavorable manner.
Brent crude oil was trading at under $100 per barrel on Wednesday prior to the president’s remarks. It shot up afterward in intraday trading to over $108 per barrel and remained over $107 on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reportedly dropped by 1.3% on Thursday; the S&P 500 dropped 1.2%; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.7%.
As promised, the U.S. continued its aerial attack on Iran in the wake of Trump’s speech, allegedly wounding former Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi — an adviser to the government whom the New York Times reported was apparently helping to facilitate peace talks between Vice President JD Vance and Iranian authorities.
Iran, in turn, launched numerous missiles at Israel and neighboring Arab states on Thursday.
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