British Female Sailor Court-Martialed for ‘Sexually Assaulting Four Shipmates’ on Royal Navy Destroyer

Young woman in a yellow plaid shirt and black shorts sitting on a hanging chair at a beachside bar during the evening.

Young woman in a yellow plaid shirt and black shorts sitting on a hanging chair at a beachside bar during the evening.
Photo Sian Dowsett/Instagram

Sexual harassment in the British Armed Forces has long become a problem.

The Armed Forces Sexualized Behaviors and Sexual Harassment Survey, published by the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) in November 2025, covered experiences across the Army, Royal Navy, and RAF.

The survey revealed that 67% of female regular personnel in the UK Armed Forces (and 69% in the Navy) experienced at least one form of sexualized behavior in the past 12 months.

One specific issue includes 32% of women reporting unwanted physical touching or groping.

But it seems that this sexual misconduct has become a two-way street, as a female sailor is being court-martialed for carrying out seven ‘opportunistic sexual assaults’ on male and female shipmates.

The Telegraph reported:

“Able Seaman Sian Dowsett, 25, allegedly groped four of her Royal Navy colleagues – two men and two women.

Based on HMS Dauntless, AB Dowsett is accused of grabbing the men by their crotches, stroking their arms, and making comments such as: ‘I like my coffee how I like my men, big and strong’.

She allegedly smacked women sailors’ bottoms and squeezed their breasts, on one occasion asking: ‘Do you like that, baby girl?’”

At Bulford Military Court, Dowsett was described as a ‘cancer on the ship’ by one seaman.

“Prosecutors said her offences ‘ranged from nipple-pinching to bottom-slapping and genital-grabbing’ but AB Dowsett denied the seven counts of sexual assault on the two men and two women.”

Read more:

Lesbian ‘DEI Hire’ Captain of New Zealand Navy Ship That Ran Aground Has Been Charged With Negligence, Will Face Court-Martial Over the Sinking

The post British Female Sailor Court-Martialed for ‘Sexually Assaulting Four Shipmates’ on Royal Navy Destroyer appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Firetruck in Deadly Collision with Air Canada Plane Lacked Transponder – Tower Couldn’t Track Vehicle

Blurred nighttime cityscape featuring colorful lights reflecting on wet pavement, suggesting a lively urban atmosphere.

Blurred nighttime cityscape featuring colorful lights reflecting on wet pavement, suggesting a lively urban atmosphere.

Senior Aviation investigators released preliminary findings on what led up to the deadly collision between an Air Canada plane and a firetruck at LaGuardia’s Airport.

Footage of the plane crash shows the Air Canada flight barreling down the tarmac right before it collides with the emergency vehicle.

“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission said. “Frontier 4195, stop there please. “Stop, stop, stop, stop,” an air traffic controller can be heard saying over the radio transmission.

WATCH:

The truck didn’t stop in time.

It is unclear if the driver of the firetruck hit the brakes or tried to maneuver out of the way before the collision.

According to CBC, the pilots who died in the crash were identified as pilot Antoine Forest from Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, and co-pilot MacKenzie Gunther.

The deceased pilots were described as “two young men at the start of their careers.”

Aviation investigators revealed that the firetruck lacked a transponder so the tower couldn’t track the vehicle.

The Associated Press reported:

Federal investigators say a runway warning system didn’t trigger an alarm before an Air Canada jet and a fire truck collided at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference Tuesday that the system didn’t work as intended because the fire truck did not have a transponder.

The plane carrying more than 70 people slammed into the fire truck while landing late Sunday night, killing the two pilots and injuring several passengers.

Most, though, were able to escape the mangled aircraft, and a flight attendant still strapped in her seat survived after being thrown onto the tarmac.

The post Firetruck in Deadly Collision with Air Canada Plane Lacked Transponder – Tower Couldn’t Track Vehicle appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

WATCH: Russian Cosmonaut Manually Docks Glitched ‘Progress’ Cargo Spacecraft to the International Space Station

Progress spacecraft docking with the International Space Station, showcasing its cylindrical design and Russian insignia against a dark background.

Progress spacecraft docking with the International Space Station, showcasing its cylindrical design and Russian insignia against a dark background.
Progress cargo spaceship manually docks to the ISS – Screengrab NASA Social Media/X

‘All’s well that ends well’ – William Shakespeare.

NASA and the Russian Roscosmos are celebrating the successful docking of the ‘Progress’ cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

The docking had to be performed manually by cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov after a glitch prevented an antenna from fully deploying.

The Soyuz rocket was successfully launched on Sunday (22) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, after around three months of repairs due to an accident in late 2025.

Watch: damage in Baikonur launch pad.

But right after liftoff, the glitch in the ‘Progress’ added more tension to the ISS missions, which have seen two astronauts left stranded for 9 months in space by the malfunctioning Boeing’s Starliner, and also the first medical evacuation from space, after crew member Mike Fincke had an unspecified health issue in the ISS.

From the NASA website:

“The uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 94 spacecraft arrived at the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Poisk module at 9:40 a.m. EDT Tuesday. 

Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov manually piloted the spacecraft during docking using the TORU (Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous System) control panel inside the space station’s Zvezda Service Module after one of the spacecraft’s two KURS automated rendezvous antennas failed to deploy after launch.

The spacecraft is delivering about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 74 crew. It will remain docked to the orbiting laboratory for about six months before departing for a planned destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.”

Read more:

Russia Successfully Launches Soyuz Rocket From Repaired Baikonur Launchpad, but a Glitch in the Cargo Spaceship May Force Cosmonaut to Manually Dock It on the ISS

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Ron DeSantis Says He’d Have Swept GOP Primary Without Trump, Opens Door to Running in 2028 (VIDEO)

Ron DeSantis speaking during an interview on a talk show, with a microphone in front of him and a colorful background.

Ron DeSantis speaking during an interview on a talk show, with a microphone in front of him and a colorful background.
Ron DeSantis during an interview on Sean Hannity’s podcast.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is signaling he may not be done with presidential politics and is making clear he believes the 2024 race would have looked very different without Donald Trump.

In a recent interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, DeSantis declined to rule out a 2028 White House bid.

“We’ll see,” the 47-year-old governor said when asked directly whether he would run again.

DeSantis, who is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027, will exit the governor’s mansion roughly a year before the next Republican primary season begins.

His 2024 campaign ended early after a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, where Trump beat him by around 30 points.

Yet DeSantis argued the outcome was largely dictated by Trump’s presence in the race.

“In 2024, like in Iowa, the people that voted for Trump. If he wasn’t running, I would’ve gotten like 90 percent of those people,” DeSantis said during an appearance on the the Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast.

“They were conservative voters, right? They didn’t want the non-conservative, they wanted me,” he added.

“The timing didn’t work out, obviously, for that.”

Watch the clip below:

After winning the 2018 gubernatorial race by under half a percentage point, DeSantis’s first term in office was so successful that he won re-election in 2022 by around 20 points.

However, polling for the 2028 Republican primary suggests a different landscape is already taking shape.

The race currently appears to be a two-horse battle between Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

According to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average, Vance remains way out in front with around 46 percent support.

Another candidate in the mix is President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., although it remains unclear whether he will even put his name forward.

DeSantis, meanwhile, is polling in the single digits.

Despite those numbers, DeSantis appears to be keeping the door open and making the case that under different circumstances, he may already have been the man in the Oval Office.

The post Ron DeSantis Says He’d Have Swept GOP Primary Without Trump, Opens Door to Running in 2028 (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Iran War Enters 25th Day: Tehran Denied Having ‘Productive’ Talks with U.S.

The Iran War entered its 25th day on Tuesday as Israeli strikes hit energy and water infrastructure across Iran overnight. The strikes come less than a week after President Donald Trump told the Israelis not to repeat strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure. That followed Israeli strikes on the South Pars Gas field, which triggered costly retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Iran’s Fars News said strikes on Isfahan damaged a gas administration building and a gas reduction station, along with nearby homes. In Khorramshahr, a projectile reportedly struck the area around a power plant gas line. Iranian media said a desalination facility and the adjacent meteorological office in Bushehr were also hit. 

Israeli Channel 12 reported at least three buildings were completely destroyed in Tel Aviv by Iranian attacks.

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported that Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr was appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, replacing Ali Larijani, who was killed last week. Zolghadr is seen as a hardliner, whereas Larijani had been seen as a more pragmatic figure and potential negotiating partner.

Iran on Monday rejected Trump’s claim that Washington and Tehran had held “productive” talks to end the war, with senior Iranian officials calling the assertion “fake news” aimed at manipulating oil and financial markets. A senior Iranian official told Drop Site News that no direct negotiations were taking place and that U.S. messages had only been relayed indirectly through third countries. The official said Tehran’s conditions for ending the war include a simultaneous ceasefire in Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq, while ruling out any negotiations over Iran’s ballistic missile program.

On Tuesday, the New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has privately urged President Trump to press ahead with the war on Iran, portraying the U.S.–Israeli campaign as a “historic opportunity” to reshape the Middle East and potentially topple Iran’s government. The report said MBS argued Iran’s ruling system poses a long-term threat to the Gulf, though Saudi officials publicly denied he had pushed to prolong the war, insisting Riyadh supports a peaceful resolution even as it remains under Iranian attacks.

Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained limited but not fully halted, with tracking data showing several vessels crossing since Monday, suggesting Iran may be selectively allowing passage rather than imposing a complete closure.

Gas prices continued to rise on Tuesday. AAA reported the national average gas price at $3.98.

As Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military is flattening buildings in southern Lebanon in line with what he called “the model of Gaza,” the Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich argued that Israel must extend its borders into Lebanon. “The Litani must be our new border with the state of Lebanon, just like the ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza and like the buffer zone and peak of the Hermon in Syria,” Smotrich said on Monday.

The post Iran War Enters 25th Day: Tehran Denied Having ‘Productive’ Talks with U.S. appeared first on The American Conservative.

WATCH LIVE: President Trump Participates in Ceremony to Swear in Markwayne Mullin as DHS Secretary – 1:30 PM ET

Man in a suit speaking to reporters outside a government building, with several phones pointed towards him for interviews.

Man in a suit speaking to reporters outside a government building, with several phones pointed towards him for interviews.
Markwayne Mullin

President Trump will participate in the swearing-in ceremony for former Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to serve as Homeland Security Secretary this afternoon. 

Mullin submitted his resignation from the US Senate on Monday after the Senate voted to confirm him as DHS Chief.

The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Mullin to replace former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

JUST IN: Senate Votes 54-45 to Confirm Markwayne Mullin as DHS Chief – One Republican Votes No (VIDEO)

Trump fired Noem earlier this month and immediately announced that Mullin would become the next Secretary of Homeland Security.

The then-Senator accepted the nomination, saying he looks forward to “carrying out President Trump’s mission alongside the department’s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day,” in a statement on X:

As a kid from Westville, it has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve the people of Oklahoma for the past thirteen years in both the House and Senate.

I am grateful to President Trump for nominating me to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump’s mission alongside the department’s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day.

President Trump ran on restoring law and order, and he quickly delivered the most secure U.S. border in American history. I look forward to supporting @POTUS’ mission to safeguard the American people and defend the homeland.

Mullin is set to be sworn in during an Oval Office ceremony at 1:30 PM ET, and he is expected to take questions alongside President Trump about Homeland Security’s mission under the new leadership.

Watch live below:

The post WATCH LIVE: President Trump Participates in Ceremony to Swear in Markwayne Mullin as DHS Secretary – 1:30 PM ET appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Canada’s Military Drill in the Arctic Flops in Extreme Cold Temperatures

Snow-covered campsite with tents and equipment, featuring researchers preparing for Arctic exploration in a remote, icy landscape.

Snow-covered campsite with tents and equipment, featuring researchers preparing for Arctic exploration in a remote, icy landscape.
Canadian Rangers’ camp in the Arctic – Wiki Commons

Canada, the hangar door that would not open, and the drill that didn’t happen.

After US President Donald J. Trump threatened to seize Greenland and floated turning Canada into the 51st state, the government in the great white north held its biggest-ever Arctic military exercises.

But Canada’s military ambitions in the Arctic were defeated by a frozen hangar door that wouldn’t open, showing just how far behind Canada is compared with the Arctic powers at the top of the globe.

The New York Times reported:

“Hundreds of troops landing on an island in the High Arctic last month were confronted with wind chill temperatures of minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit, frigid even by the area’s standards. The cold kept the locals in the Victoria Island hamlet of Cambridge Bay indoors, suffused the air with tiny ice crystals called diamond dust, and sealed a 30-foot-tall door at an airport hangar.”

The planning was for the Chinook helicopter to airlift two M777 howitzers to be fired in front of a VIP delegation of military officials. But a LOT went wrong.

The 1,300 members of Canada’s armed forces participating on Operation Nanook represented three times as many as the 2025 drills.

“Prime Minister Mark Carney recently unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan to beef up Canada’s military capacity in the Arctic, part of the largest military spending surge in decades. Mr. Carney has vowed to revive Canada’s defense industry to make the nation less dependent on the United States.”

Military helicopter flying over ocean with icebergs in the distance under a cloudy sky.
Operation Nanook in 2024 – Wiki Commons

The Canadian drills were supposed to take place over two months, as a reaction to the US’s continued strengthening of military capabilities in Alaska, and Russia’s two-decade buildup of its Arctic territory.

“By contrast, Canada’s Far North — the world’s largest Arctic landmass after Russia’s — remains sparsely defended, with no permanent military base. It has few roads, deepwater ports or large airports.”

Since Canada has no military facility in Cambridge Bay, they set up command at a NORAD Arctic research center, while troops were housed in lodges, private homes, and even a senior center.

“The howitzers had been towed north about 1,000 miles and then flown aboard a C‑130 Hercules aircraft to Cambridge Bay. On the big day, the plan called for the Chinook to airlift the howitzers to a firing range about six miles west of the hamlet.”

The Canadians were trying to answer the question: Can they operate up there? And so far, it appears the answer is ‘no’.

The US has many heated hangars in Alaska – ‘tons’, a Canadian commander added. Canada has none.

So when it became clear that the frozen Chinook would not be part of the VIP day’s events, it was decided to tow one howitzer to the firing range, while leaving the second behind with mechanical problems.

Two men, one significantly taller, stand against a red background, illustrating a stark contrast in height and presence.
Trump and Canadian PM Mark Carney, who wanted to show his country’s Arctic capabilities.

Finally, the big day arrived, and a plane landed with the VIP delegation, who were taken to the firing range.

But bad weather shut down airports in the region, leaving Cambridge Bay’s airport open for flight diversions.

So the howitzer artillery firing was canceled abruptly, ‘to keep the airspace open’. What a flop!

Read more:

THE GREAT WHITE NORTHERN FEAR: After US Snatched Venezuela’s Maduro and Upped the Pressure on Greenland, Canadians Are Terrified They’re Next

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WATCH: Sen. John Kennedy GOES OFF on Chuck Schumer Over DHS Shutdown Lies, ‘Lying Like Fish Swim!’

Live discussion on TSA agents working without pay during the DHS shutdown, featuring three news anchors in a studio setting.

Live discussion on TSA agents working without pay during the DHS shutdown, featuring three news anchors in a studio setting.

Senator John Kennedy has blasted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, accusing them of lying about the ongoing partial government shutdown that has left the Department of Homeland Security severely underfunded.

In a fiery Fox News appearance on Tuesday, Kennedy did not hold back.

“He is LYING, he’s lying like fish SWIM!” the Louisiana senator declared while discussing the 38-day shutdown and the chaos it has caused at airports nationwide.

Kennedy pointed out that Democrats had previously voted to fund DHS, only to back away, leaving TSA officers working without pay and causing long security lines and flight delays.

WATCH:

The senator also referenced a two-step proposal he and Sen. Ted Cruz had pitched to Senate GOP leadership and President Trump: first, fund all of DHS except ICE (including TSA, which Democrats had already agreed to), then use the reconciliation process to fully fund ICE and pass parts of the SAVE America Act with Republican votes only.

President Donald Trump has rejected any compromise that does not fully fund ICE and border security measures, insisting lawmakers stay in Washington through Easter break to deliver real solutions rather than temporary patches.

As the partial government shutdown reached Day 38 on Tuesday, severe staffing shortages at the Transportation Security Administration have triggered long security lines and flight delays at airports nationwide, with some travelers reporting waits stretching for hours and lines spilling outside terminals at major hubs.

Hundreds of TSA officers have reportedly quit or gone on extended leave amid the uncertainty, straining operations and creating widespread travel headaches for Americans.

President Trump moved quickly to ease the chaos by directing ICE agents to assist overwhelmed TSA personnel at key airports starting Monday.

Democrats are prolonging the shutdown to shield illegal immigrants rather than protect American citizens and secure elections.

The post WATCH: Sen. John Kennedy GOES OFF on Chuck Schumer Over DHS Shutdown Lies, ‘Lying Like Fish Swim!’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Where’s the Antiwar Left?

Where’s the Antiwar Left?

Demographics and technology have conspired to keep the streets clear of protestors.

Anti War Demonstration In Los Angeles

The world remains fixated on President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, with concerns rising over how it may harm the global economy and Middle Eastern stability. It’s already killed 13 Americans and could kill far more. 

Yet, unlike past conflicts, there are no large-scale demonstrations against the war. The opposition party also remains rather muted about the conflict. Right-leaning podcasters and influencers seem to be driving more of the opposition towards the war than the traditionally dovish parts of the left.

The missing antiwar movement is a cause of concern at the Nation. Rutgers professor Eric Blanc bemoaned this missing coalition in an article for the liberal publication this week. Blanc noted that the war is unpopular, with under 40 percent of Americans backing it. “Why then has there been so little collective protest against the US-Israel offensive?” he asks.

His article offers some unsatisfying explanations, from claiming Americans feel powerless to Trump doing “so many horrible things” that it’s hard to focus on a single issue. The article mostly amounts to cope. 

There are clear explanations for why the Democrats seem relatively unconcerned with the matter and why there are no large-scale protests.

One reason is that this war’s direct impact on Americans has been limited so far. There have been limited casualties, no call-ups of troops, and no draft on the horizon. Rising gas prices have been the only discernible effect on Americans’ daily lives. Americans certainly do care about the conflict and are aware of it happening. But, like most foreign conflicts, it hasn’t upended their lives.

America has been able to get away with numerous interventions over the last decade or so by limiting the effects on domestic life. Libya, Syria, Ukraine, the 12-Day War, and Venezuela were all just fodder for the news. As long as Americans feel no real pain from military actions, the U.S. government can do what it pleases. The calculus changes when the costs can no longer be ignored. Public opinion soured on Iraq as the casualties mounted with little progress to show for it. 

It can be argued that the consequence-free war is now considered the norm for American interventions. The first Gulf War inspired mass protests before the planes even started bombing Baghdad due to the shadow Vietnam cast over America. Thirty-five years later, we now think we can bomb foreign lands with minimal risk. 

The Iran War could create the costs that make Americans build an antiwar movement. But we’re not there yet.

A second reason why the left hasn’t generated an antiwar movement is that it has other priorities. Trump’s battle with Minneapolis generated more outrage than the Iran strikes. Democrats were united in denouncing the ICE raids and shootings, with many coming to revive the once-discredited idea of abolishing the agency. Thousands of leftists took to the streets to disrupt immigration enforcement and show their displeasure with Trump’s policies. Hostility towards ICE raids has become a centerpiece in many Democrats’ campaigns this year.

While the Left was united in response to Trump’s immigration policies, the Iran strikes caused division within its ranks. Some Democrats condemned the intervention in no uncertain terms. Others, such as Mark Kelly and Tom Suozzi, were either circumspect about the strikes or supportive of them. Unlike immigration, which seems to be a shared priority for Democrats in the general election, the Iran War is a contested issue in the party’s primaries. “At least half a dozen progressives are challenging establishment-backed or moderate rivals over the Iran war,” according to Reuters.

Of course, plenty of people protested against the Iraq War when it was a contested issue among Democrats. The same is true for Gaza. But, at the moment, the left cares more about other matters.

A third reason is that the young are no longer interested in street protests. Several publications have noted the lack of Zoomers at recent left-wing protests. Most of the attendees at “No Kings” demonstrations sported gray hair. Gen Z’s absence can be explained by their relative lack of interest in politics compared to older generations and their preference for engaging in politics through social media rather than direct protest. One study found that of the young people engaged in politics, nearly two-thirds say their involvement is mostly through digital means.

Social media shows widespread opposition to the Iran War. Young people may feel it makes more sense to like an Instagram post or repost an X meme to show their opinion than to take to the streets. 

Yes, young people have gotten involved in protests. The Palestinian protests are one example, as are the school walkouts against ICE. But these are organized and directed by people with more of a direct connection to those issues. It’s not hard to understand why a school with kids of illegal immigrants would protest against ICE, or why Palestinian students would organize a protest against Israel. Without that direct connection to an issue, people are less motivated to demonstrate.

There might not be a need for an antiwar movement to take to the streets. It’s unlikely the war is going to get more popular over time. Prowar Democrats losing their seats over Iran sends a stronger message than 10,000 people marching through Washington, DC. The same would be true if Republicans have a disastrous midterms as a result of the conflict. The street movement model may be unnecessary in today’s age. We increasingly live online. Over half the country gets a portion of its news from social media. If you want to get the public’s attention, memes and short-form videos are now a better way to do it than chants and placards. 

One could argue there already is an antiwar movement. But it’s not exclusively tied to the left and it’s not organizing marches. To find it, you just need to log in to X.

The post Where’s the Antiwar Left? appeared first on The American Conservative.

The Man in the Arena: Why Iran’s Organized Resistance Is America’s Real Ally

Protests featuring flags, smoke, and clashes between demonstrators and police in a tense urban setting.

Protests featuring flags, smoke, and clashes between demonstrators and police in a tense urban setting.
The 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement marked a turning point, when Iranians became more unified against the regime. The 2026 protests were the beginning of a new revolution.

This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire

By Charles Wald

Just a few months after leaving office, President Theodore Roosevelt, in his famous speech in Paris on April 23, 1910, titled Citizenship in a Republic, famously said that “the man in the arena” is the one who counts. This ageless quote can serve as a good guide for the United States in deciding who to count on when figuring out the future of Iran.

Operation Epic Fury was the right call. The Supreme Leader is dead. His defense minister, IRGC commander, and senior intelligence chiefs are confirmed killed. For forty-seven years this regime held the world hostage, and the Commander-in-Chief struck with precision and resolve. As a Air Force pilot, I salute the courage of that decision.

But I spent 35 years in the United States Air Force. I have planned and executed operations of exactly this kind. And I am telling you, with the bluntness my service demands: what we have started, bombs alone cannot finish.

Khamenei’s body is in the rubble, and the IRGC is still launching missiles at Israel and American bases across six countries. They have declared forty days of mourning and promised retaliation that will “stab America in the heart.” Killing the head did not kill the beast. It never does — not without a force on the ground to finish what the bombs started.

Iran is not a flat desert. It is a mountainous nation of 90 million people with a regime that spent forty-seven years building redundancy into every command structure and communications network. They killed over seven thousand of their own citizens in January alone. Cornered with no internal force to replace them, they will kill hundreds of thousands more. The only way to complete this through military force alone would require two hundred thousand boots on the ground — in a country four times the size of Iraq. No president will send that force. Nor should they.

The question is: what is the solution?

The answer is already on the ground.

On February 23 — five days before our missiles struck — roughly 250 fighters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (also known as the MEK) breached the outer security perimeter of the very same Motahari Complex we hit five days later. They engaged 8,000 defenders. They fought for hours. They disabled surveillance cameras from inside Khamenei’s compound with help from people within the regime’s innermost security circle. Over 100 were killed or captured. The rest withdrew and await redeployment.

You cannot fake what happened on Pasteur Street. You cannot breach a compound defended by 8,000 guards without years of intelligence penetration, deep organizational infrastructure, and a population willing to shelter you at the risk of their own lives. The regime can kill the fighters — but it cannot undo the fact that they reached the heart of Tehran five days before American missiles did.

And they have not stopped. MEK armed units attacked the IRGC garrison in Hashtgerd, twenty-five miles west of Tehran, inflicting heavy casualties. In Isfahan, Resistance Units destroyed the regime’s judiciary and intelligence ministry buildings. While our pilots strike from thirty thousand feet, these fighters are striking from the streets of Iranian cities. No cruise missile can replicate that.

I first came to know this movement when they were in Iraq. The MEK residents exposed critical intelligence about Tehran’s malign activities in Iraq that saved American lives, a debt we never repaid. I have since visited MEK members in Ashraf 3 in Albania and met Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Paris.

Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan reads like a constitution written by the Founding Fathers: separation of religion and state, free elections, gender equality, abolition of the death penalty, and a non-nuclear Iran.

As our bombs fell last week, her first message was not about power — it was about protecting civilians and children. Rajavi announced the NCRI’s provisional government, prepared since 1981, and declared: “Iran is not its regime. Iran is its people.”

That is not someone waiting for America to hand her a country. That is someone who has earned the right to lead one.

President Trump is a dealmaker. He knows a real asset from a counterfeit. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last monarch who was deposed in 1979, has no organization inside Iran. His social media following is forensically documented as 89 percent bots. To put him in power would require sending 200,000 troops to place the crown on his head. He is not an alternative. He is a dependency.

The MEK reached Pasteur Street without a single American dollar, weapon, or soldier. That is the definition of a real asset.

The United States does not need to send a single soldier and does not need to occupy Iranian soil. Recognizing the National Council of Resistance of Iran and Mrs. Rajavi’s provisional government would send a powerful message. We should abandon four decades of demonization against the organized resistance manufactured by the very regime our bombs are now destroying. Our bombs cannot do it alone without a force on the ground. But there is a force on the ground — and they have paid for this moment with 120,000 lives.

President Roosevelt’s words were never more urgent. The credits belong to those in the arena. They are fighting right now for the same values invoked when President Trump told Iranians: “The hour of your freedom is at hand.”

It is the only deal that works.


Chuck Wald is a retired U.S. Air Force general and former deputy commander of U.S. European Command.

This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.

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