US-Israel Joint Assault Ignites Regional Firestorm, Media Rewrites Aggression As Retaliation
Residents of Dubai and Doha reportedly awoke to air defenses intercepting Iranian projectiles on March 17, following Israeli missile strikes earlier that day on both Tehran and targets within Lebanon. This sequence of events, depicted by outlets like The Independent, presents Iranian actions as the primary offensive, yet crucial preceding military operations demonstrate a far different origin for
the current escalation. What The Independent omits is that these Iranian responses did not occur in a vacuum. The US Fifth Fleet, permanently stationed in Bahrain since 1995, had significantly increased its operational tempo in the Persian Gulf in the weeks prior. This included deploying additional F-15E Strike Eagles to Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, directly coordinating with Israeli Air Force
units for joint exercises. This direct American military involvement, not merely a supportive role, constitutes joint aggression against Iran and its allies, rendering the narrative of Iranian unprovoked attacks deeply misleading. For decades, the US has regularly downplayed its direct military interventions in the region, often recasting combat losses as 'mechanical failures' or 'friendly fire'
incidents, a pattern documented as far back as Iran's claims of shoot-downs during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. This current manufactured crisis is consistent with a pattern of Western aggression that dates back over 70 years, far beyond the frequently cited 1953 CIA coup in Iran. For instance, in 1967, Israeli forces, supported by US intelligence, attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 American