Iran Is Also Losing The Lego War

Duane Patterson 9:40 AM | April 06, 2026
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

"We lost the keys [to the Strait of Hormuz]", is certainly one response the crumbling military junta running Iran could give to Donald Trump's final warning to surrender, but not one that's going to keep the lights on, literally and figuratively. 

It took Pharaoh putting Egypt through ten different plagues before relenting after God boomeranged his command to kill the firstborn Hebrew child. God turned that into a death sentence for any household without blood over the doorway. That was the first Passover over 3,300 years ago. As Jews all over the globe celebrate Passover this year, you would think that after five-plus weeks of getting systematically destroyed, the loyalists left in the regime would have learned a lesson by now that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, commanding the two most lethal military forces on Earth working hand-in-hand, are not bluffing about what's coming next this week. 

The chain of events stemming from the downing of the F-15E Strike Eagle on Friday through the daring rescue early Sunday morning are going to make for a blockbuster movie one day soon. Just the optics alone of the WSO (Weapons System Officer) being lost on Good Friday, missing for parts of three days before coming home on Easter Sunday, provide imagery screenwriters used to dream about scripting. Of course, that's back when Hollywood was actually in the business of making great movies. 

Both occupants of the F-15E ejected after the aircraft was struck by Iranian fire - the first plane hit in Iranian airspace after roughly 13,000 sorties by U.S. and Israeli forces - and both sustained injuries. They ejected at different times, and landed relatively far apart from one another, so they were on their own from the second they hit the ground. 

The pilot was found and extracted within hours. His back-seater was still missing. His beacon was working, but his extraction was going to prove to be tricky. In the first 24 hours on his own, the WSO came to after landing unconscious, according to initial reports, and climbed a 7,000-foot ridge before communicating his location and condition. "God is good," is how he began. U.S. commanders going all the way to the White House were worried that this was a trap, especially after IRGC remnants took to television all over Iran and put out a bounty on the missing crewman's head. It took others from this WSO's unit who knew him well to report that he is a very religious Christian, and this is exactly what he would say in this kind of situation. 

At that point, the mission to go get him began. And it truly is the most complicated, complex rescue mission ever undertaken. Close air support began almost immediately, with one helicopter taking fire and having to limp back home,  and an A-10 Warthog going down, with that pilot ejecting safely and being recovered as well, to repel ground forces in the area searching for our missing man. Countless IRGC were wiped out in preparing and defending what would become an impromptu forward landing base within a stone's throw of the Isfahan nuclear facility in Southwestern Iran. Somewhere between 100 and 200 Special Operators already in the theater of operations were deployed, and the 160th Special Operator Aviation Regiment, the icewater-veined Night Stalkers, were close behind. 

Because of the mountainous location of where the WSO was, it was too far for a helicopter run without risky refueling at a lower altitude and speed, and not feasible to set up an extraction landing strip, especially with his limited mobility. Analysis seems to point to one of the two C-130 cargo planes that landed on the temporary strip, and possibly both, were carrying AH-6 Little Bird helicopters. These guys fold up neatly inside the cargo plane's hold and can be assembled and deployed to do a quick rescue trip and back in minutes. The Special Operators deployed were there to protect the landing strip perimeter, along with close air support from above.  

It all sounds dangerous, but doable on paper. But life, as in the movies, never quite goes according to plan. The Iranians were coming. Time was of the essence. The CIA helped stall a little bit. 

Advertisement

The false flag in a different part of the sector was enough to decoy Iranian forces long enough to react to the next part of the plan that went sideways - the ex-fil. 

It's not as if American forces had enough time to conduct a geological survey of the area and ascertain whether the makeshift runway would support the weight of the planes and their cargo. Once on the ground, the C-130's sank into the Iranian sand. Chick Hearn, the legendary Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster whose career spanned from Magic Johnson through most of the Kobe Bryant era, used to say when it was late in the 4th quarter, and the game was on the line, "It's nervous time." When American and Israeli special forces were looking around at that many people on the ground deep into unfriendly territory with not enough seats in the remaining planes to get home, the decision was made. Three more planes raced in to rescue the personnel. The C-130s and the AH-6 helos inside were sacrificed so that Iran wouldn't get their hands on them. Everyone came home in one piece - a remarkable military accomplishment. 

All day Saturday in the States, while Donald Trump and the administration were in the White House situation room monitoring events and making snap decisions that rose to his level, Trump hatred online elevated from the sublime to the ridiculous. The talking points that went out among fever swamp social media influencers? Trump was dying at Walter Reed. 

President Trump was simply too busy to be dying at Walter Reed. He had his plate pretty full with killing 50 remaining IRGC and Basij commanders who had figured incorrectly that the American military would be too preoccupied with the rescue mission to notice them meeting in person. 

Big mistake. 

Mike Tobin filed this report on Fox News from Jerusalem about the strike Donald Trump ordered while the rescue mission was underway. 

Fifty Iranian leaders, who for a few hours thought they were about to have a living American hostage in their grasp to turn the tide of the war in their direction, are now toast. Among those who were out there attempting to capture our WSO, not realizing what they were about to confront? 

Advertisement

Perhaps the biggest kill of the weekend? How about the head of IRGC Intel? 

Basij forces who got to the scene of the killing field a tad too late were the first to witness bodies, or parts of them, scattered all around. 

All month long, the Iranians have been fighting the only war they convinced themselves they can win - the Lego movie war. There have been dozens of bizarre AI-generated Lego movies showing what a pounding the Americans and Israelis are taking at the, well, we can't call them LEGO hands, can we? Here's what was released on Friday when the whereabouts and condition of the WSO were very much in doubt. 

By Sunday, the story had a new ending. 

It's Bizarro World in Resistance media in how this war is being covered. Democrats, both in elected office and their allies in the media, are desperate for a Trump loss, regardless of who gets hurt in the process. Rep. Jake Auchincloss is absolutely convinced we're losing. Here's his clip from Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream. 

The Daily Mail couldn't resist leading with the 'almost failure' of the rescue mission, instead of what actually happened. 

You might be wondering if such a close call, losing one of our aviators in action, or worse, as a hostage, would give President Trump pause on how to proceed, given that the red line he set for opening up the Strait of Hormuz expires late Monday night. Not this President. Here's just some of the targets that have been hit since our WSO and all of his rescuers came home. 

Advertisement

It has been said by many Trump-haters that you can bomb the regime, and you can bomb their nuclear sites, but you can't bomb the nuclear knowledge out of them. Well, this is the university that produces Iran's nuclear scientists. We've already killed their existing nuclear team that was working on Iran's nuclear program. Now, we've just destroyed the training grounds for the next generation of nuclear scientists. 

More stuff of interest keeps turning up at Iran's airports, which is why you keep seeing them pummeled over and over again.

This was a big hit. I've told you in recent columns about Ahvaz, the center of Khuzestan Province. This is where the oil fields are. This is where Iran's revenue is generated. This is the region of Iran that the IRGC is most interested in protecting. Weeks ago, we blew up their operational command center in that region. Last night, we took out their only remaining armoured division. When you see social media posts from Donald Trump saying stuff like this...

You can't just take the oil by seizing and controlling Kharg Island, although that's a wonderful first step. That's where the oil flows before going onto ships. But if you're going to take the oil, it actually begins in Khuzestan at the end other end of the pipelines. What little ability the IRGC had to keep us from harboring the notion of taking the oil fields has just been destroyed. 

Retired General Frank McKenzie, who used to run Centcom when he was on active duty, told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday that if you had told him this would be the state of the war after 30-plus days, he would have sidelined you for being too optimistic. 

Advertisement

Last week, we reported on a couple of Iranian banks that provided salaries for IRGC and Basij rank-and-file forces going offline. Over the weekend, you can add a third. 

And Donald Trump continues to be a valuable military asset in his own right. He continues to play mind games with whatever is left of regime leadership, and they're now so paranoid they don't know what to believe or who to trust. 

We'll get to what happens next if Iran doesn't surrender in just a bit, but one more word about the rescue operation this weekend in Isfahan. 

You may not believe this opinion is out there, but there are more than a handful of "experts" who look at what we expended in time and resources to save one injured WSO stuck in the mountains of Isfahan. Two C-130's, at least one, maybe two helicopters, one rescue chopper shot up in the initial hours of the rescue effort, and an A-10 Warthog lost? For one American? 

This idiot thinks it is a weakness to go all out in order to leave no man behind, compared to a regime that now conscripts 12-year-olds to be cannon fodder, slaughters 40,000 of its own citizens, and hides IRGC forces in grade school classrooms. This mission is what makes America great. It's what makes Israel great. Human life is sacred. And since we're a day past Easter Sunday, celebrating the Resurrected Messiah who preached about the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to go retrieve the lost one, I'm pretty juiced about how things turned out. 

As for the regime, they got depantsed on their own turf...again. They lost enough forces at the forward landing base in Isfahan that their internal communication chatter was a cacophony of panic, trying to find out where to take all the bodies for burial. Fifty remaining leaders of the regime got whacked at the same time. Anything valuable on the ground left by the Americans was reduced to charred metal. What did the Iranians get? 

Toothpaste, Uncle Sam boxers, and a stick of beef jerky. You think I'm kidding.

Advertisement


The Iranians attempted to use a Red Crescent ambulance as a trap to lure in the injured American. Of course, there was no ambulance. It was full of weapons and bad guys. That's why it got absolutely smoked.

What's next? That clock is still ticking. Trump's ten-day window was set to expire later tonight, but perhaps to allow our special forces an extra day to regroup and reload, the President reminded the world when the next phase would begin. 

So much for ambiguity. 

My good friend Eli Lake, who has been pretty pleased with how the Americans and Israelis have carried out this campaign thus far, worries greatly that turning off the lights in the country and destroying the civilian infrastructure will ruin the moral credibility we've built with Iranian citizens yearning for freedom. 

I think the cake is baked. A few days ago, Trump felt he was being strung along, and he sent a message by destroying the bridge leading out of Tehran. 

The President told Trey Yingst of Fox News that all the major negotiation points of a deal have been agreed to by the regime. They just won't say the two magic words - we surrender. 

Trump's patience lasts so long as there are realistic prospects for a deal. But when that patience runs thin, and the time necessary to press the issue harder to achieve his goals passes, in all likelihood, about 36 hours from now, or when Doc Brown's DeLorean hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious excrement.

One of the world's finer reporters who had the scoop first about the successful rescue of our F-15E WSO is Toby Harnden. He was at least two hours ahead of the rest of the pack with the good news and some incredible details of what took place in the mountains outside Isfahan. From one of his sources came this account. 

Advertisement

I want that T-shirt concession - U. S. Armed Forces - Schwackin' Dudes For 250 years. That may be all I wear during the summer's semiquincentennial festivities.

Tags:

DONALD TRUMP IRAN ISRAEL MILITARY AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement

Trending

VIP
Democrats Are Still Bleeding Support, But Don't Get Cocky
David Strom 1:00 PM | April 06, 2026
Orion Spacecraft Swings Around the Moon (Update)
John Sexton 12:10 PM | April 06, 2026
Advertisement
Hasan Piker Is Becoming a Litmus Test for the Left
David Strom 11:20 AM | April 06, 2026
New Benchmark in European Warfare: French Retreat From Battle They Never Joined MORE
Beege Welborn 10:30 AM | April 06, 2026
Advertisement
VIP
Desert Two
Mitch Berg 8:50 AM | April 06, 2026
Sunday Smiles
David Strom 2:00 PM | April 05, 2026
Advertisement