Iranian-backed regional resistance forces strike back, and the U.S. faces a "triple dilemma"

Local time on the 3rd evening, and early hours on the 4th Beijing time, the Iranian capital Tehran was hit by a large-scale airstrike.

Flight objects appear over Tehran as air defense systems activate

CCTV reporter Li Jiannan: I am now located in Tehran, the Iranian capital, and it is 21:00 local time on the 3rd. Not long ago, I filmed a flight object over the northeastern part of Tehran, and then, around the reporting location, the air defense systems nearby activated. On the 3rd local time, multiple places including Tehran, the southern port city of Chaharak, and the southwestern city of Ahvaz were all hit by attacks by the US and Israel. In the afternoon attacks, in addition to the explosion video that we filmed, regional areas including Behcheshtey University in Tehran and Mehrabad International Airport were also attacked at the same time.

Iran conducts “True Promise-4,” Wave 93 attack; allied regional resistance forces

CCTV reporter Li Jiannan: At around 3:00 pm on the 3rd, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out the 93rd wave of “True Promise-4.” As in previous waves of attacks, the Guard Corps, together with allied regional resistance forces, used missiles, drones, and other means to strike US and Israeli targets. Also worth noting is that earlier, Iranian sources said that Iran’s air defense system in the central region of the country shot down an advanced US fighter jet and released the wreckage debris after the jet crashed, adding that the jet’s crew members had ejected and escaped. Late on the 3rd evening, the US said the crashed aircraft was a US Air Force F-15, and one crew member had been successfully rescued and was confirmed alive. At present, based on statements from all sides, both the US and Iran are stepping up efforts to search for the other crew member.

Iranian officials comment that the US is in “threefold dilemmas”

CCTV reporter Li Jiannan: Regarding the US-Israel-Iran conflict, an Iranian side said in a commentary article that Iran has, through more than a month of time, demonstrated that it can combine “strategic patience” with “decisive action.” By contrast, the US is in “threefold dilemmas”: continuing airstrikes means losses will intensify; launching a ground war means getting stuck deeper in a quagmire; and if it accepts Iran’s ceasefire conditions, it means strategic failure and the loss of its status as a superpower. The commentary emphasizes that the war declaration against Iran marks the end of the US’s “military unilateralism” in the West Asia region. Now, the US needs to make difficult choices, either by accepting Iran’s ceasefire conditions or by sticking with its original misjudgment.

Tehran hit by large-scale airstrikes; the intensity and scope of US-Israel-Iran strikes are both expanding

More than two hours later, in the late evening at around 11 o’clock, Tehran was hit by another new round of large-scale airstrikes by the US and Israel.

CCTV reporter Li Jiannan: Between about 23:15 and 25 minutes past 23:00 local time, Tehran was hit by a new round of large-scale airstrikes. We cannot observe all of the attacks, but one explosion point relatively close to our reporting location is in the northern part of Tehran, near the mountains. This attack occurred after Iran announced that it had shot down a US A-10 attack aircraft, and this was also the second US fighter jet shot down by Iran that day. Earlier reports showed that on the 1st of this month, the US made a 48-hour temporary ceasefire proposal to Iran through a friendly country, but Iran did not respond in writing and instead made an “on-site response” by continuing to carry out heavy-fire strikes on the battlefield. Based on observations in Iran over the past days, even though Trump has said several times that he is “negotiating” with Iran, Iran has not issued any formal official message so far. Meanwhile, whether it is the US and Israel or Iran, at the military level, both the intensity of their strikes and the scope of their strikes against the other side are clearly expanding.

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By Stone Xiuzhen SF183