Trump Reveals How ‘Operation Epic Fury’ Got Its Name — And It’s More Ridiculous Than You Think
It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that President Donald Trump’s taste in mission names is on par with his flair for decorating.
At a rally Wednesday in Kentucky, the president bragged about how he chose “Operation Epic Fury” as the name for the US-Israeli attack on Iran during what he implied was a very boring meeting.
“Operation Epic Fury!” Trump exclaimed at the rally, like he was announcing the next installment in the “Fast & Furious” franchise. “Is that a great name? Well, it’s only good if you win, ya know?… And we’ve won. We won. … In the first hour it was over, but we won.”
He continued, “They gave me a list of names to choose. ‘Sir, you could pick the name you’d like, sir.’ I said, ‘The name of what?’ ‘The name of the attack on Iran, sir,’” Trump told the crowd, making sure to use a cartoonishly stiff voice for whoever was asking him to make the decision.
“And they gave me, like, 20 names, and I’m, like, falling asleep. I didn’t like any of them. Then I see ‘Epic Fury.’ I said, ‘I like that name! I like that name!’”
Despite Trump’s claim that the conflict, launched February 28, was over in an hour, it is still very much in full swing, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 Iranians, along with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, the newly appointed supreme leader of Iran, released a statement Thursday that the Iranian military plans to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route on its southern coast, and that any vessels that pass through it are at risk of being attacked, meaning global oil prices will continue to soar.
The new Ayatollah Khamenei also specifically promised to avenge the 175 civilians killed at the start of the war, most of whom were schoolgirls who died in what is believed to be a US airstrike on an elementary school in Minab.
The Pentagon said in a statement to The New York Times on Tuesday that Iranian strikes have killed seven American service members, severely injured eight and injured 140. The Pentagon also told Congress that the conflict has cost the US $11.3 billion in just the first week.