At 3:38 p.m., President Donald Trump gave the order to strike Iran. ‘Operation Epic Fury’ was set in motion. Less than an hour later on Friday, standing on the tarmac in Corpus Christi, Texas, Trump faced the press — calm, relaxed, completely unreadable. A reporter asked him point-blank: “How close are you to making a decision on strikes?” Trump smiled. “I’d rather not tell you,” he said. “You would have had the greatest scoop in history, right?” What the world didn’t know: the decision had already been made. According to Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Trump had authorized the strikes while still aboard Air Force One. By the time he stepped onto the Texas runway, the machinery of war was already turning. Jets were moving. Plans were unfolding. Iran’s evil regime was hours away from feeling the full force of Operation Epic Fury. And Trump gave nothing away. No dramatic tone. No visible tension. No slip of the tongue. He delivered remarks. He greeted supporters. He even stopped at Whataburger. Behind the scenes, one of the most consequential military operations in decades was about to begin. It was a masterclass in restraint — a president holding the winning hand while the cameras rolled, never flinching, never tipping the table. Hours later, the strikes would land. The main target? Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the joint United States-Israel operation. The 86-year-old ayatollah, who ruled Iran for more than three decades and consolidated near-total authority over the judiciary, state media, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was eliminated alongside more than 40 senior regime figures and military commanders. Among those confirmed killed were Khamenei’s top security adviser Ali Shamkhani, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Khamenei’s chief military secretary Mohammad Shirazi, head of military intelligence Saleh Asadi, and senior figures tied to Iran’s nuclear research apparatus. Israeli officials said opening waves of Operation Epic Fury decimated the regime’s chain of command. The strike triggered an immediate succession crisis inside Tehran. Under Iran’s constitution, an interim council assumes authority while the Assembly of Experts selects a new supreme leader — but with key leadership figures dead, the path forward is uncertain. President Trump celebrated Khamenei’s death on Truth Social, calling him “one of the most evil people in History” and describing the killing as “justice” for Americans and others killed by Iran over decades of terrorism and proxy warfare. He said the United States intelligence played a direct role in tracking the ayatollah, writing that Khamenei “was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems.” Trump warned that bombing would continue “uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary” to achieve what he called the goal of “peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world.”