---
title: "Operation Roaring Lion was a war manufactured exclusively to serve Israeli interests, with Israel deliberately manipulating and deceiving the United States into attacking Iran on its behalf while America bore all the military, economic, and diplomatic consequences of a conflict it had no independent reason to fight."
description: "Operation Roaring Lion (known to the United States as Operation Epic Fury) was a jointly planned and executed campaign driven by decades of independent American grievances with Iran, including Iran's nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile threats to U.S. forces and allies, and a long record of Iranian terrorism that has killed hundreds of Americans. The United States entered this conflict as a sovereign co-belligerent with its own stated strategic objectives, not as a proxy deceived int…"
url: "https://hasbara.co.il/facts-myths/operation-roaring-lion-was-a-war-manufactured-exclusively-to-serve-israeli-interests-with-israel-deliberately-manipulating-and-deceiving-the-united-states-into-attacking-iran-on-its-behalf-while-america-bore-all-the-military-economic-and-diplomatic-consequences-of-a-conflict-it-had-no-independent-reason-to-fight"
type: "fact-check"
locale: "en"
published: "2026-08-24T09:17:24.300Z"
updated: "2026-08-24 09:18:57"
tags: ["iran", "operation roaring lion", "operation epic fury", "us-israel alliance", "nuclear proliferation", "antisemitism", "disinformation", "iranian terrorism", "carlos"]
---

# Operation Roaring Lion was a war manufactured exclusively to serve Israeli interests, with Israel deliberately manipulating and deceiving the United States into attacking Iran on its behalf while America bore all the military, economic, and diplomatic consequences of a conflict it had no independent reason to fight.

*Operation Roaring Lion (known to the United States as Operation Epic Fury) was a jointly planned and executed campaign driven by decades of independent American grievances with Iran, including Iran's nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile threats to U.S. forces and allies, and a long record of Iranian terrorism that has killed hundreds of Americans. The United States entered this conflict as a sovereign co-belligerent with its own stated strategic objectives, not as a proxy deceived into fighting someone else's war.*

## Myth

Operation Roaring Lion was a war manufactured exclusively to serve Israeli interests, with Israel deliberately manipulating and deceiving the United States into attacking Iran on its behalf while America bore all the military, economic, and diplomatic consequences of a conflict it had no independent reason to fight.

## Fact

Operation Roaring Lion (known to the United States as Operation Epic Fury) was a jointly planned and executed campaign driven by decades of independent American grievances with Iran, including Iran's nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile threats to U.S. forces and allies, and a long record of Iranian terrorism that has killed hundreds of Americans. The United States entered this conflict as a sovereign co-belligerent with its own stated strategic objectives, not as a proxy deceived into fighting someone else's war.

## מיתוס

Operation Roaring Lion was a war manufactured exclusively to serve Israeli interests, with Israel deliberately manipulating and deceiving the United States into attacking Iran on its behalf while America bore all the military, economic, and diplomatic consequences of a conflict it had no independent reason to fight.

## עובדה

Operation Roaring Lion (known to the United States as Operation Epic Fury) was a jointly planned and executed campaign driven by decades of independent American grievances with Iran, including Iran's nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile threats to U.S. forces and allies, and a long record of Iranian terrorism that has killed hundreds of Americans. The United States entered this conflict as a sovereign co-belligerent with its own stated strategic objectives, not as a proxy deceived into fighting someone else's war.

The claim that Israel "manufactured" Operation Roaring Lion and "deceived" the United States into fighting Iran on its behalf is a recycled conspiracy narrative that collapses under the weight of documented fact. The United States military designated its component of the operation **Operation Epic Fury** — a name, a command structure, and a target set chosen independently in Washington. American B-2 stealth bombers, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and U.S. Navy assets were deployed pursuant to orders from the Commander-in-Chief, not from Jerusalem. Far from being dragged unwillingly into a foreign conflict, the Trump administration articulated its own war aims: eliminating Iran's nuclear breakout capability, neutralizing its ballistic missile arsenal, and protecting American service members and allies throughout the region. The suggestion that the world's most powerful military was hoodwinked into war by a small ally insults the intelligence of every American decision-maker involved and ignores the forty-plus-year record of Iranian hostility directed squarely at the United States.

## The Facts

The United States has accumulated an extensive, entirely independent casus belli against the Islamic Republic of Iran that predates the current conflict by decades. **Iran killed 241 U.S. Marines and Navy personnel** in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, carried out through its Hezbollah proxy. The **1996 Khobar Towers bombing** — attributed to Iranian-backed operatives — killed 19 more American airmen in Saudi Arabia. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) armed, trained, and directed Shia militias in Iraq who killed and maimed thousands of U.S. troops during the post-2003 occupation. Iran's ballistic missiles already hold U.S. bases across the Persian Gulf region at risk, and Iran repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint through which roughly **20 percent of global oil supply** transits, a direct American economic and strategic interest. During Operation Epic Fury itself, Iran attacked U.S. military installations and killed American service members, confirming that Iran viewed the United States as a combatant on its own terms, not merely as Israel's instrument.

- **74 retired U.S. generals and admirals** signed an open letter published by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) endorsing the Iran strikes, warning that Tehran "seeks to spill American blood" — a judgment formed over careers of watching Iran threaten U.S. interests, not Israeli ones.
- Iran's nuclear program, had it achieved weaponization, would have threatened **thousands of U.S. military personnel** stationed across the Persian Gulf and within range of Iranian ballistic missiles — a threat retired Director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency Lt. General Henry Obering explicitly warned about.
- The United States designated its own portion of the campaign with its own operational name — **Operation Epic Fury** — reflecting independent command authority and strategic ownership, not a subcontracted mission.
- Prior to the joint campaign, Washington had already conducted **Operation Midnight Hammer**, its own unilateral strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025, demonstrating independent American military initiative preceding any February 2026 joint action.
- Iran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles not only at Israel, but also at **Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and U.S. military installations** — confirming that Iran itself understood it was at war with America, not merely with Israel.

## Historical Context: Why This Narrative Exists and Why It Is Wrong

The "Israel manipulates America into war" trope is one of the oldest and most pernicious strains of antisemitic conspiracy theory, historically deployed to deny Jewish people — and the Jewish state — legitimate agency while simultaneously portraying them as puppeteers of world powers. It gained renewed currency in the early 2000s through anti-Iraq-War polemics and has been a staple of Iranian state propaganda, Kremlin information operations, and Islamist political movements ever since. Its persistence owes nothing to evidence and everything to ideological utility: it simultaneously delegitimizes Israel, infantilizes America, and absolves Iran of responsibility for its own provocations.

The factual record of U.S.-Iran hostility is long and entirely self-sustaining. The Iranian government has chanted "Death to America" as official policy for over four decades. The IRGC has been designated a **Foreign Terrorist Organization** by the United States government since April 2019. Iran plotted to assassinate a Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil in 2011. It has provided weapons to the Houthi movement that repeatedly targeted American naval vessels in the Red Sea. These are not Israeli grievances laundered through American foreign policy — they are American grievances, documented in U.S. federal indictments, Pentagon assessments, and congressional testimony accumulated across multiple administrations of both parties.

The specific claim that the United States "bore all the consequences" while Israel escaped unscathed is equally false. Israel suffered direct ballistic missile and drone bombardment throughout the campaign, with its population sheltering from Iranian salvoes. Both nations deployed air defense assets, both sustained military losses, and both governments publicly acknowledged a co-equal partnership. Pentagon assessments confirmed that both the United States and Israel employed fighter aircraft, counter-UAS systems, and advanced air and missile defense capabilities in a coordinated fashion — a posture consistent with alliance, not exploitation.

## Conclusion: A Dangerous Myth That Serves Iran's Interests

The narrative that Israel "manufactured" this conflict and "deceived" a hapless America into fighting it is not a peace argument — it is Iranian regime propaganda dressed in the language of anti-war sentiment. By erasing America's forty-year record of Iranian-inflicted casualties, denying Washington's sovereign decision-making authority, and recycling antisemitic conspiracy frameworks about Jewish manipulation of great powers, this claim actively serves the interests of a theocratic regime that has killed Americans, sponsored terrorism across four continents, and relentlessly pursued nuclear weapons in violation of international law. Accepting this narrative uncritically would mean denying the sacrifice of every American service member killed by Iran or its proxies, and it would mean holding Israel to a standard of accountability denied to every other U.S. ally that has ever fought alongside American forces. The truth is straightforward: the United States and Israel identified a shared enemy, planned a joint campaign, and executed it together. That is called an alliance — not a deception.

### ראיות ומקורות מוסמכים

- "Military Threats to Israel: Iran" — Jewish Virtual Library, 2025–2026 (continuously updated). Documents the full timeline of Iranian aggression, nuclear escalation, and the joint military campaign. Available at jewishvirtuallibrary.org/iran-military-threat-to-israel
- "A Nuclear-Capable Iran is a Threat to America" — CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), 2012 (foundational analysis). Details Iranian ballistic missile ranges covering U.S. forces, Iran's terrorist attacks killing Americans, and the independent U.S. stake in preventing Iranian nuclear capability. Available at camera.org/article/a-nuclear-capable-iran-is-a-threat-to-america
- "Operation Roaring Lion Is Rewriting the Rules of War Against Iran" — Policy Brief, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), March 19, 2026. Provides strategic analysis of the campaign's objectives, target patterns, and the systematic dismantling of Iranian military command-and-control infrastructure.
- IRGC Foreign Terrorist Organization Designation — U.S. Department of State, April 8, 2019. The formal U.S. government designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization — an American sovereign act independent of Israeli policy.
- Open Letter of Endorsement for Iran Strikes — Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), signed by 74 retired U.S. generals and admirals, March 2026. Affirms the independent American security rationale for the campaign and warns of Iran's explicit intent to target U.S. personnel.

### כיסוי תקשורתי

- "74 retired US generals, admirals back Iran strikes, warn Tehran seeks to 'spill American blood'" — Fox News, March 4, 2026. Available at foxnews.com/world/74-retired-us-generals-admirals-back-iran-strikes-warn-tehran-seeks-spill-american-blood
- "'Crushed': Netanyahu Says U.S.–Israel Campaign Destroyed Iran's Nuclear, Missile Programs — Regime 'Fighting to Survive'" — Breitbart News, April 12, 2026. Documents the joint nature of the campaign and both governments' stated objectives. Available at breitbart.com/politics/2026/04/12/crushed-netanyahu-says-u-s-israel-campaign-destroyed-irans-nuclear-missile-programs-regime-fighting-to-survive/
- "Operation Epic Fury: How America's Air Power is Crushing Iran's Terror Regime" — Fox News, March 1, 2026. Details U.S.-specific military assets, targeting rationale, and independent American command decisions. Available at foxnews.com/opinion/operation-epic-fury-how-americas-air-power-crushing-irans-terror-regime
- "Fourth American service member killed in Iran operation" — Reuters/The Guardian, March 2, 2026. Contemporaneous reporting on American military personnel killed by Iranian fire — confirming Iran's direct targeting of U.S. forces. Available at theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/02/iran-attack-fourth-us-service-member-killed
- "Iran: Is This the 'Regime Change' That Was Sought?" — Epoch Times, March 2, 2026. Provides historical context for the U.S. campaign objectives, including the Trump administration's independent articulation of American war aims. Available at theepochtimes.com/opinion/iran-is-this-the-regime-change-that-was-sought-5992562