Featured Image Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Israel, Iran, Social Media
Britt Jones
Topics: Donald Trump, Israel, Iran, Social Media
Social media users are mocking Donald Trump’s administration over their reported name for the US military operation against Iran.
The US and Israel have been embroiled in a strategic plan to issue multiple attacks against Iran since February 28, which has since allegedly caused the death of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the nation's capital - Tehran.
Iran subsequently retaliated with missile and drone attacks as it targeted various US military bases in locations including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Dubai.
In the days since the initial attacks, the full scale of its destruction has become public, with Iran’s death toll being revealed as approximately 555 people, with hundreds more injured.
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In the aftermath, people have taken to social media to call the bombings ‘disgusting and evil’, with pro-MAGA supporters like ex-Fox News reporter Carlson Tucker denouncing Trump’s actions.
But that’s not the only thing people are upset about – it's the name of the operation.
Social media users have hit out at Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the entire administration over the choice to name it ‘Operation Epic Fury’, with many calling it ‘stupid’ or ‘childish’.
“Is it just me or the name of the Operation ‘Epic Fury’ feels like it was picked by someone from Marvel ?,” one person wrote.
Another commented: “In all of US military history is there a more embarrassing name for an operation than ‘epic fury?’ Sounds like the subtitle of the sixth sequel in a mediocre slasher franchise.”
“I know it’s small potatoes but epic fury is the stupidest military operation name ever. It’s the minions of military operation names,” someone else penned.
A fourth slated: "'Operation Epic Fury’ is the kind of thing I would've called it when I played with GI Joe action figures as a child. For an adult to use the name when killing real people is f***** pathetic.”
Currently, the attacks continue, with Trump having said it could last up to a month.
Iran has since attacked Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
An Iranian drone also attacked a runway at a UK military base in Cyprus.
At the moment, the death toll has been confirmed by local outlets like Al Jazeera, stating: Israel reported 10 killed and hundreds injured; US reported three soldiers had been killed in Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Kuwait, and five others were injured; in Bahrain, missiles killed one and injured four; Iraq reported two dead and five injured; Jordan reported intercepting 49 drones and ballistic missiles, and no casualties; Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence said its Ali al-Salem Air Base came under attack and its International Airport, killing one and injuring 32; Lebanon reported 31 dead and 149 injured; Oman reported no deaths but five casualties, and Qatar noted the attacks harmed 16 people.
UNILAD reached out to the White House for comment.
US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday (28 February) that the US and Israel have started 'major combat operations' in Iran after explosions were heard in multiple cities across the country.
Following a significant buildup of US forces in the region in recent weeks, Trump declared in a video posted on Truth Social that 'we are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground'.
Alongside hundreds of civilian casualties - including at least 153 people and children after a reported strike hit a school in Minab - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was confirmed dead following Israeli missile strikes around Tehran.
According to Trump, the aim of this weekend's attacks were to 'ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon'.
Meanwhile, in reference to Israel's retaliation strikes, the country's defence minister stated that the goal was to 'remove threats against the State of Israel'.
This has come after weeks of Trump threatening military action in Iran if the Middle Eastern country did not agree to a new deal over its nuclear programme. However, Iran has insisted repeatedly that its nuclear activities are 'entirely peaceful'.
In retaliation to the US and Israeli strikes, Iran has launched strikes of its own on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, which include Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The BBC reports that at least nine people were killed in a strike on the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, while military and civilian targets - including an American naval base in Bahrain and Dubai's international airport in the United Arab Emirates - were also targeted across the weekend.
Several videos have been posted on social media from tourists and civilians that show the damage inflicted across these areas from missile and drone strikes, including many British citizens who are currently stranded in Dubai.
This is a question that has been asked repeatedly since the major combat operation began in Iran, due to the nation being an ally of both the United States and Israel.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that British planes were 'in the sky' in the Middle East as part of a defensive operation 'to protect our people, our interests and our allies', and condemned Iran's retaliatory attacks on 'partners across the region'.
While the UK did not participate in the strikes, Starmer released a joint statement with the leaders of France and Germany, calling for Iran to 'refrain from indiscriminate military strikes'.
"Iran can end this now," Starmer said. "They should refrain from further strikes, give up their weapons programme and cease the appalling violence and oppression of the Iranian people – who deserve the right to determine their own future."
However, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Yvette Cooper, has said it is 'simply not true' that the UK is being dragged into another Iraq-style conflict in the Middle East.
While addressing a reported Iranian drone strike on a RAF base in Cyprus, she told Sky News on Monday, 2 March: "We took a very specific decision not to provide support for strikes that were taking place over this weekend. We have been clear that we believe there should be a diplomatic process, negotiations process."