According to official sources, those being the president and secretary of WAR, Iran lost the war (in the first hour and every hour since), has no navy or air force, and is desperately seeking Trump’s mercy to end the war. Iran, apparently, was unaware of its desperation, not to mention the negotiations that were going so well that Trump back off his ultimatums time and again. After all, “unconditional surrender” only lasted about a day, and what’s the difference if we already WON!!!

That was weeks ago. We won so big, apparently, that Hegseth flexed his man-muscles and fired the Army’s Chief of Staff, four-star General Randy George, in the midst of war excursion because Hegseth didn’t get along with General George, who disagreed with Hegseth’s refusal to approve promotions based on race and sex.

Despite winning, over and over, the Strait of Hormuz, the name of which was not officially changed to the Straight of Trump, yet, remains “closed” if one considers getting blown up closed. But as Trump explained, even though the closure came as a direct and clearly foreseeable consequence of his choice of attacking Iran for no particular reason aside from the Epstein Files and the upcoming midterm elections, it’s not his problem even though he could “easily” take it because we don’t need oil from the middle east. Apparently, no one told him about fertilizer or helium, but I digress.

But then, down went an American F-15 Strike Eagle, with one pilot still missing at this writing.

The U.S. military lost its first fighter jet to enemy fire from Iran on Friday, U.S. and Israeli officials said, a setback for the Trump administration, which has repeatedly sought to project that American warplanes had established air supremacy in the five-week war.

Enemy fire? But they have no navy or air force. We’ve crushed their military so bigly that we’re reduced to bombing bridges and civilian power facilities to bomb them back to the stone ages.

President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have boasted in recent days that U.S. and Israeli strikes have decimated the Iranian regime and military. Mr. Hegseth said earlier this week that the United States had achieved such control of Iran’s skies that it was flying B-52 bombers directly over Iranian territory for the first time since the war began.

Of the great many things to criticize, the misuse of the word “decimate” is the least of Trump’s problems, as a second plane went down.

Another U.S. Air Force combat plane crashed in the Persian Gulf region at about the same time the F-15E was shot down, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The lone pilot in that plane, an A-10 Warthog, was rescued. The officials provided scant details about the A-10 crash, including how and where it happened beyond saying it was near the Strait of Hormuz.

By most definitions, this is not winning. Thirteen American soldiers have been killed, and hundreds wounded. And Iran is still capable of shooting jets out of the sky. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed and has created the worst oil crisis in history, not to mention the fertilizer crisis as farmers are about to plant their crops.

Iran shot down the F-15E over the southwestern part of the country on Friday, two days after President Trump declared in an address to the nation Wednesday night that the United States was moving closer to achieving its military objectives.

“Over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong,” Mr. Trump said, promising intense bombing.

No doubt there will be more, and more intense, bombing, although bombing Iran “back to the Stone Ages” was not on anyone’s bingo card as one of the constantly shifting strategic goals of the war excursion. Talk is cheap, and Trump does so love to talk, even if he has to ramble and slur his way through. But actions speak louder than words, and America lost two planes in one day. It appears that rumors of Iran’s demise are greatly exaggerated.