Pepe Escobar: An Israeli F-35 With A Nuke Was Headed To Iran . . . The Russians Said 'Nyet' & Shot It Down
From Pepe Escobar
EXCLUSIVE
THE REAL STORY OF THE ISRAELI COUNTER RESPONSE
From a very high level intel source.
In Asia.
NOT Russia-China.
Although the strategic partnership, of course, exchanges at the highest level 24-7.
Confirmed and re-confirmed.
It will be great to know what Sy Hersh hears from his Beltway sources.
Here we go.
Israel initially chose to respond with extreme force.
An F-35 loaded with a nuclear bomb was sent east over Jordan.
The mission: cause a high-altitude detonation over Iran that would provoke a surge in the high-capacity power lines, crippling Iran's electric grid, as well as disabling all electronic devices.
An EMP attack.
However...
... As the Israeli F-35 was leaving Jordanian airspace it was shot down by the Russian Air Force.
Hence the publicised version of the Israeli counter response was such a travesty.
In the end all sides decided not to publicise the real news - to de-escalate what could well turn into WWIII.
https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics/11024
Scott Ritter has replied
Pepe Escobar has written a post where he reports that an Israeli F-35 carrying a nuclear weapon was shot down over Jordan by a Russian fighter.
While I respect Pepe as a journalist, his source is wrong.
Israel would never take such a precipitous action. Not only would it provide public acknowledgment of Israeli nuclear weapons capability, thereby putting Israel in open violation of existing agreements between it and the U.S., it would also put Israel in violation of the 1968 Outer Space Treaty prohibiting the deployment and/or use of nuclear weapons in space and the Biden administration’s recent admonishments in this regard.
Moreover, the scenario describes makes no sense in terms of the characterization of the weapons involved, both in terms of the alleged Russian-Israeli engagement, and what Israel would hope happens regarding EMP.
This is, in every way shape and form nonsensical reporting.
Pepe should retract his post.
I found these articles which might support Pepe’s story
US Has ‘Microwave’ Weapons Able to Fry Electronics of Iran's Nuclear Facilities - Report
Svetlana Ekimenko
The Pentagon is exploring futuristic electronic warfare options such as microwave emitters and directed-energy (DE) lasers, the US Defense Department’s top officer for counter-UAS issues, Army Major General Sean Gainey, said in 2023, adding that investments were being made in high-powered microwave capabilities.
The US Air Force has operational missiles that could take out the electronics of Iran's nuclear facilities using high-power microwaves, the Daily Mail reported.
The microwave weapons equipped with an electromagnetic pulse cannon are fitted into cruise missiles and can be delivered from B-52 bombers.
Boasting a range of 700 miles (around 1,126 km), the weapons can ostensibly infiltrate enemy airspace at low altitude and target electronic devices with pulses of high power microwave (HPM) energy. Specifically, the microwave weapon is said to generate a concentrated beam of energy aimed at generating a voltage surge in electronic equipment, thus disabling it. These missiles are allegedly designed to leave civilians unharmed.
According to the report, the top secret Counter-Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) was the brainchild of Boeing's Phantom Works, and was commissioned by the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Since being tested in 2012, the microwave weapons have purportedly been deployed and are operational at various locations across the globe.
The outlet cited Othana Zuch, a US Air Force Research Laboratory public affairs officer, as saying that CHAMP missiles were originally a demonstration program, followed up by development of “advanced HPEM (High Power Electromagnetic) technologies.”
The publication also recalled that Mary Lou Robinson, formerly head of the High Power Microwave Division Air Force Research Lab at US Kirtland Air Force Base, spoke as far back as in 2016 about the CHAMP missiles, alleging that they were operational.
Russia hopes that Israel reacted to Tehran's attack in this way to show that it does not want further escalation with Iran — Lavrov https://t.co/cI0Nr2YYmL
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) April 19, 2024
For decades, the United States has attempted to perfect concentrated microwave weapons. However, developing a system that emits beams powerful enough to damage enemy electronics while remaining compact enough to be practical has proven challenging.
“Directed energy, high powered microwave, low-cost interceptors is where we want to be,” said US Army Major General Sean Gainey last year at a meeting of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank funded by contributions from military contractors. A year before, Gainey, the head of the Army's Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, stated that the US military was exploring using high-powered microwave technology to counter swarms of armed drones on the battlefield.
As for the new report, it comes amid the latest dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East, with Israel carrying out an airstrike against Iran on Friday in response to Tehran's missile and drone attack over the weekend. Israel fired three air-launched ballistic missiles during the attack on Iran, NBC News reported, citing officials.
As a result of the “limited” retaliatory strike on sites in Iran, explosions were reported near the city of Isfahan. Tasnim reported that the nuclear facilities in Isfahan province are completely safe. Three Iranian officials confirmed to The New York Times that the strikes targeted an Iranian Air Force base near Isfahan. According to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the drones shot down over Isfahan did not cause any damage.
And the Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE US Air Force secretly develops missiles that could obliterate Iran's nuclear facilities by zapping their electronics - without harming civilians
DailyMail.com can reveal that the US Air Force has quietly deployed missiles that could destroy the electronics of Iran's nuclear facilities
The microwave weapons are fitted into an air-launched cruise missile and delivered from B-52 bombers
They can fly into enemy airspace at low altitude and emit sharp pulses of high power microwave (HPM) energy that fry computer chips
Ronald Kessler, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, is the New York Times Bestselling Author of 'The Secrets of the FBI,' 'The First Family Detail,' and the 'CIA at War.'
The US Air Force has quietly deployed missiles that could destroy the electronics of Iran's nuclear facilities with high-power microwaves, rendering them useless, without causing any fatalities, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively.
Known as the Counter-Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP), the missiles were built by Boeing's Phantom Works for the US Air Force Research Laboratory and first tested successfully in 2012. They were deployed—meaning installed in various locations around the globe—and became operational in 2019.
This comes as Israel has conducted strikes in Iran in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault earlier this week, defying US President's warning that more attacks could plunge the Middle East further into conflict.
***
Israel would never take such a precipitous action. Not only would it provide public acknowledgment of Israeli nuclear weapons capability, thereby putting Israel in open violation of existing agreements between it and the U.S., it would also put Israel in violation of the 1968 Outer Space Treaty prohibiting the deployment and/or use of nuclear weapons in space and the Biden administration’s recent admonishments in this regard.
Nothing surprises me with Israel.
The Jewish Fatherland has no ethical limits.
It will do as much as it thinks it can get away with.
Sadly when you indoctrinate your children to believe everyone wants to kill you they grow into sociopaths mostly.
What a great reveal!! Thanks, Peter!
I use Occam's razor. SOMETHING happened which devolved Israel's response into a Casper-the-Milquetoast response. Is Israel belligerent, hostile, and crazed at this point? Of course. Look what they've done in Gaza. We have seen and are seeing genocide and the forced removal of a people from their land. And no...I don't support screaming, threatening, and intimating Jewry throughout the world as we see with Hamas supporters. I don't believe in their blinding ardor nor tactics.
In truth, Israel has been bombing their neighbors--Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria--for years with impunity. They're the biggest bully on the block. They have the mightiest power in the world supplying them with the most highly evolved weaponry and funding.
Ritter is simply an Israeli apologist in the final analysis. Israel WOULD DISAVOW any knowledge of an EMP attack as they do DAILY. They seldomly acknowledge their bombing raids on their neighbors. How could anyone "prove" they did it?
Russia shooting down the plane? They could have disabled the plane and bomb with an equivalent technology alerting Israel to the fact that Russia wouldn't tolerate their mission. The plane flew "blindly" home with their instrumentation blacked out: Russia's already done so in the Mediterranean near the Black Sea with U.S. forces years ago. The U.S. Navy was freaked out.