Epic Fury: The US-Iran War Podcast

The Briefing Network

The US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28th, 2026. Iran's Supreme Leader is dead. His navy is sunk. His air force is destroyed. His son has been named as his successor. Trump demands unconditional surrender. Iran says it will never capitulate. Three hundred and thirty thousand people are displaced. And this war has no end in sight. Daily coverage. Every development. Every day.

  1. 19H AGO

    Iran War Day 29: Houthis Enter the War on One Month Anniversary — Israel Strikes Arak Nuclear Site and Yazd Yellowcake Plant

    Day 29 of Operation Epic Fury. One month in. The war that was supposed to last four weeks has entered its second month — and on its one-month anniversary, Yemen's Houthi rebels fired their first missiles at Israel, Iran struck two more nuclear facilities, and Israel attacked weapons production plants across Tehran. The Houthis have entered the US-Iran war. Their first military operation was a ballistic missile barrage at southern Israel, intercepted but now raising the prospect of a simultaneous Hormuz and Red Sea dual-corridor shutdown. One trillion dollars in annual Red Sea trade. Twenty percent of global oil through Hormuz. If both close simultaneously, no economic model can contain it. Israel struck the Shahid Khondab Heavy Water Complex in Arak — a facility linked to Iran's plutonium pathway — and the Ardakan yellowcake plant in Yazd Province, the starting point of Iran's nuclear enrichment chain. No radiation leaks confirmed. IAEA monitoring both sites. Iran's foreign minister vows a heavy price. Also hit: Mobarakeh Steel in Isfahan and Khuzestan Steel in Ahvaz, with power outages in eastern Tehran. CENTCOM confirms ten thousand-plus targets struck across Iran and two-thirds of Iran's missile production destroyed. Also in this episode: Iran makes its first Strait of Hormuz concession — agreeing to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through following a UN request. Iran fires six ballistic missiles and twenty-nine drones at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, wounding fifteen US troops, five seriously — over two dozen Americans wounded at that base in a week. Pakistan announces Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt are sending foreign ministers to Islamabad for peace talks. UK intelligence confirms Russia provided pre-war military training to Iran. Six hundred and twenty thousand women and girls displaced across the region. And a one-month reckoning: three thousand dead across the Middle East, one million displaced in Lebanon, the IEA's worst-ever energy crisis, Trump's four-week timetable expired, and no ceasefire in sight. The second month of the US-Iran war begins now.

    22 min
  2. 1D AGO

    Iran War Day 28: Israel Kills IRGC Navy Commander Tangsiri — Trump Extends Power Plant Deadline 10 Days as Pakistan Confirms Indirect Talks

    Pakistan's Foreign Minister publicly confirmed it for the first time: US-Iran indirect talks are taking place through messages being relayed by Islamabad. Iran's ambassador secretly met Pakistan's interior minister in Islamabad on Thursday. Trump extended his power plant strike deadline by ten days to April sixth — citing, in his words, an Iranian Government request that Iran flatly denies making. And Israel killed Alireza Tangsiri — the commander of the IRGC Navy, the architect of the Strait of Hormuz blockade, the man who personally directed which ships could pass — along with his entire senior naval command. This is day twenty-eight. The war is one day from its one-month mark. Trump's original four-week timetable has expired. The conflict has not. Also in this episode: the full significance of Tangsiri's death and what it means for the Hormuz blockade without its architect. Israel is racing to destroy as many Iranian arms factories as possible before any ceasefire is declared — NPR confirms Israeli military officials want several more weeks of war. Iran fires seven salvos at Israel on Thursday including a cruise missile claim against the USS Abraham Lincoln. Iran's parliament is legislating formal sovereignty over the Strait and a fee collection framework — institutionalizing its blockade demands into domestic law. The IRGC's For Iran programme recruits children as young as twelve, falling below the international humanitarian law threshold of fifteen. Iran's death toll surpasses one thousand nine hundred, including four hundred and fifty-two women and children. The UAE intercepts fifteen ballistic missiles and eleven drones in a single day. Two civilians killed in Abu Dhabi by missile debris. The G7 meets in Paris with Rubio. ADNOC chief calls the Hormuz closure economic terrorism in a meeting with Vance. Witkoff confirms the fifteen-point framework at Cabinet. IAEA chief hints at Islamabad talks this weekend. And the pattern of escalating deadlines that keep getting extended — and what international law says about threatening civilian power plants. Ten days. April sixth. The next threshold.

    23 min
  3. 3D AGO

    Iran War Day 27: Iran Rejects US 15-Point Peace Plan, Issues 5 Counter-Demands Including Hormuz Sovereignty

    The United States put a fifteen-point peace plan on the table. Iran called it maximalist and unreasonable, rejected it, and issued five counter-demands of its own — including war reparations and permanent Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. The White House responded by saying Trump is prepared to unleash hell. This episode breaks down both plans in full, explains why Iran's Hormuz sovereignty demand is structurally incompatible with any deal the US could publicly accept, and tracks the collision between Trump's optimism and his own press secretary's threats. Also in this episode: what the fifteen points actually are — nuclear dismantlement, proxy abandonment, Israel recognition, sanctions relief, and a civilian nuclear programme offer. What Iran's five conditions actually mean — reparations, guaranteed sovereignty, simultaneous ceasefire across all fronts. Why the same zero-enrichment demand that collapsed talks before February twenty-eighth appears to still be on the table. Araghchi says Washington's move toward diplomacy is an acknowledgment of failure. Four separate polls now show between fifty-four and sixty-one percent of Americans say the war has gone too far. The House Armed Services Committee leaves a classified briefing unsatisfied. Iraq formally complains to the US after seven of its soldiers are killed in a strike. Iran's parliament speaker warns of a plot to occupy an Iranian island. Saudi Arabia's core oil fields — Ras Tanura, Ghawar, and Abqaiq — are targeted by Iranian drones. USPS announces an eight percent fuel surcharge on domestic mail starting April twenty-sixth. The UN Secretary General warns the Strait closure is threatening the global planting season's fertilizer supply. And mediators are pushing for in-person talks in Islamabad as soon as Friday. Three days remain in the five-day window.

    21 min
  4. 3D AGO

    Iran War Day 26: Trump Declares "We've Won" as US Sends 15-Point Ceasefire Plan to Iran — Iran Mocks It on TV

    Trump stood in the Oval Office on Tuesday and declared the war won. Then his Defense Secretary said he was disappointed there might be a ceasefire. Then the US sent a fifteen-point ceasefire plan to Iran through Pakistan. Then Iran's military aired a prerecorded video on state television mocking the Americans for negotiating with themselves. Day twenty-six of Operation Epic Fury, and the diplomatic and military tracks are running in full parallel — bombs falling on Tehran while Vance, Rubio, Witkoff, and Kushner are named as active negotiators. Also in this episode: Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant struck — Russia's symbol of its strategic relationship with Tehran hit during a notional diplomatic pause. Israel confirms it has now struck more than three thousand targets in Iran. Iran fires twelve waves of missiles at Israel. A drone hits Kuwait International Airport. Lebanon expels Iran's ambassador. Israel's finance minister says the Litani River should be the new border with Lebanon. One thousand troops from the Eighty-Second Airborne Division are deploying to the Middle East. Iran grants temporary assassination immunity to its Foreign Minister and Parliament Speaker for the five-day window. Iran signals it will permanently charge a fee for Strait of Hormuz transit — even after any deal. Trump's approval rating hits thirty-six percent, the lowest of his second term. The Philippines declares a national energy emergency. Japan begins releasing strategic oil reserves. And Republicans again kill a war powers resolution as Congress holds no public oversight hearings on a war now in its fourth week. The five-day window has four days left.

    21 min
  5. 4D AGO

    Iran War Day 25: Trump Posts Five-Day Pause on Power Plant Strikes as Iran Denies Any Talks Took Place

    Hours before his 48-hour deadline expired, Trump posted on Truth Social in full capitals that the United States and Iran had held very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of hostilities — and that he was postponing all strikes on Iranian power plants for five days. Markets surged. Oil dropped thirteen percent in a single day. And then Iran said there were no talks. No negotiations. None whatsoever. This episode covers the most diplomatically charged day of the conflict so far. Trump claimed Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held talks Sunday night with a top Iranian figure, that there are major points of agreement, and that the Strait of Hormuz will be jointly controlled as part of what he called a very serious form of regime change. Iran's Foreign Ministry, parliament speaker, IRGC, and senior officials all denied every word of it, calling Trump's claims fake news designed to manipulate oil markets. Also in this episode: Israel launches its most extensive wave of strikes on Tehran yet — described by correspondents on the ground as unprecedented in scale. The IRGC attacks US bases in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Iran surpasses 1,500 dead. Iran sets out its formal ceasefire conditions — a simultaneous halt across Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq — and announces a new nuclear doctrine that explicitly rejects zero enrichment. Iran's hardline former IRGC commander says the war continues until all sanctions are lifted and full legal guarantees are obtained. NATO pulls its security mission out of Iraq. The Red Cross president says war on essential infrastructure is war on civilians. The IEA says forty-plus Middle East energy assets have been severely damaged. And Turkey, Egypt, and Pakistan emerge as the new intermediaries — passing messages neither side will publicly acknowledge. Five days. The clock is running again.

    22 min
  6. 6D AGO

    Iran War Day 24: Trump's Power Plant Deadline Expires Tonight — Iran Threatens to Mine the Persian Gulf

    The clock has run out. Trump's 48-hour ultimatum to Iran expires tonight at 7:44pm Eastern Time — and Iran has not reopened the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, Tehran escalated. Iran's armed forces declared they are ready to close the Strait indefinitely if power plants are struck. Iran threatened to mine the entire Persian Gulf if its coastline is attacked. And the IRGC said on state television: do not doubt that we will do this. The International Energy Agency called it the greatest global energy security challenge in history. Asian stock markets collapsed on Monday morning — the Nikkei down three and a half percent, the Kospi down nearly five percent. Brent crude hit one hundred and fourteen dollars per barrel. US crude crossed one hundred dollars for the first time since the war began. Also in this episode: Israel launches a broad wave of strikes on Tehran and multiple Iranian cities as Monday begins. Iran's Red Crescent reports eighty thousand civilian units damaged across Iran in twenty-four days — including four hundred and ninety-eight schools and two hundred and seventy-five health facilities in Tehran province alone. Iran fires its four-hundredth-plus ballistic missile at Israel. The IAEA director-general warns Iran's enriched uranium will still exist after this war ends. Trump's National Security Advisor confirms exactly which power plants would be hit first. Britain's PM Starmer convenes an emergency economic meeting. Ukraine's Zelensky warns a long Iran war benefits Putin. And Iran signals it is monetizing control of the Strait as leverage — not as a military tactic. The deadline is tonight. What happens next defines the next phase of this war.

    21 min
3
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

The US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28th, 2026. Iran's Supreme Leader is dead. His navy is sunk. His air force is destroyed. His son has been named as his successor. Trump demands unconditional surrender. Iran says it will never capitulate. Three hundred and thirty thousand people are displaced. And this war has no end in sight. Daily coverage. Every development. Every day.

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