WEBVTT
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Operation Rising Lion is a fictional series based on real
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world events. Any similarities between persons living or dead is
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purely coincidental. Calarugu Shark Media.
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My name is Marcus Cole, and I need to tell
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you about the eight months when three world leaders calculated
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whether preventing nuclear war was worth triggering conventional war. It
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began on October fifteenth, twenty twenty four, when Iranian missiles
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struck Tel Aviv for the second time in six months.
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Forty seven missiles launched from sites our intelligence had thought
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destroyed precision guidance systems that shouldn't have existed, warheads with
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explosive yields that exceeded our threat assessments. As I watched
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satellite feeds of Israeli defense systems struggling to intercept the barrage,
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I realized we've been calculating based on obsolete assumptions. Iran's
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missile capabilities had advanced beyond our intelligence estimates, and their
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nuclear program was accelerating faster than diplomatic negotiations could constrain it.
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This is episode five the decision. That night, Prime Minister
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Benjamin Weiss called an emergency security Cabinet meeting by morning,
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he'd authorized the most comprehensive military planning operation in Israeli history,
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Marcus Director Cohen said during a secure briefing three days later,
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the Prime Minister wants contingency plans for eliminating Iran's nuclear
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program entirely, not delaying it, not constraining it, eliminating it.
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The mathematical scope was staggering. Iran had dispersed nuclear research
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across dozens of facilities, buried critical infrastructure deep underground, and
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integrated weapons development with civilian nuclear programs in ways that
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made precision targeting extraordinarily complex. But the real complexity wasn't technical,
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it was political. Any operation comprehensive enough to eliminate Iran's
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nuclear capability would require resources beyond Israeli capacity. We would
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need American bunker busting bombs to reach the Fordoh facility.
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We would need American intelligence to coordinate simultaneous strikes across
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multiple provinces. We would need American defensive systems to protect
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Israel from inevitable retaliation. The mathematics of preventing nuclear war
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required convincing President James Mitchell that regional war was preferable
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to global catastrophe. But President Mitchell was pursuing a different calculation.
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He'd spend his first months in office attempting to negotiate
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a new nuclear agreement with Iran, one that would provide
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sanctions relief in exchange for weapons development constraints that both
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sides could accept. The President believes diplomacy can succeed where
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military action would fail, came the message from our Washington
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liaison in November twenty twenty four. He's requested that Israeli
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military planning be suspended pending completion of nuclear negotiations. This
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created an impossible equation. Iranian nuclear development was accelerating toward
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weapons capability, while American diplomacy was decelerating Israeli military preparation.
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The window for preventing nuclear breakout was closing, while the
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window for diplomatic breakthrough remained hypothetically open. Prime Minister Weiss
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faced a choice that would define his legacy. Defer to
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American diplomatic preferences and risk Iranian nuclear weapons, or proceed
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with military planning despite American objections and risk Israeli isolation.
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He chose a middle course that satisfied no one and
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complicated everything. Weiss authorized continued military planning under absolute secrecy
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without a maya coordination. While publicly supporting Mitchell's diplomatic efforts,
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Israel would prepare for military action, while hoping diplomatic action
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would make military action unnecessary. It was a strategy that
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required lying to our closest ally, while depending on that
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ally's ultimate support. From my Tel Aviv control center, I
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began coordinating the most complex deception operation of my career. Publicly,
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Israeli intelligence was supporting American diplomatic initiatives. Privately, we were
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preparing for military operations that would make diplomacy irrelevant. The
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preparation required rebuilding capabilities that Captain Amir's investigation had systematically destroyed,
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new infiltration networks, fresh asset recruitment, alternative communication channels, and
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most critically, convincing doctor Ahmad Tehrani to continue providing intelligence
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despite his growing psychological instability. I dream about moss In
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Rahemi every night, Irani transmitted in December twenty twenty four,
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his wife, asking if our research was worth men dying
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for it. But now I also dream about my daughter
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in London, asking why her father betrayed his homeland. I
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don't know which nightmare is worse Tehrani's psychological deterioration was accelerating,
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but his intelligence remained crucial for operational planning. His access
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to Iranian nuclear facilities enabled precision targeting that would minimize
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civilian casualties while maximizing programmatic damage. The calculation was becoming
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increasingly cruel, maintained Tehrani's cooperation while planning operations that would
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likely result in his death. But the larger calculation involved
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President Mitchell's response to intelligence about Iranian nuclear acceleration. MARCUS
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Director Cohen said during a January twenty twenty five briefing,
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we need to brief the Americans about Iranian weapons development timelines.
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They're negotiating based on intelligence that's six months obsolete. The
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briefing took place in Washington on a cold Tuesday morning.
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I sat across from CIA Director Sarah Chen and National
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Security Advisor Robert Taylor, presenting intelligence that would fundamentally alter
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American diplomatic calculations. Iranian weapons development has accelerated beyond previous assessments,
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I explained, displaying technical specifications provided by Tehrani's network. Current
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production timelines suggest weapons grade uranium availability within four to
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six months, not the eighteen months, your negotiators are assuming.
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Director Chen studied the documents with professional skepticism. Marcus, this
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intelligence suggests Iran could complete nuclear breakout while negotiations are ongoing.
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If this is accurate, diplomatic engagement becomes meaningless. That's the
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assessment of Israeli leadership, I replied. The question is whether
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American leadership reaches the same conclusion. The meeting lasted three hours,
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technical discussions about uranium enrichment, strategic analysis of Iranian intentions,
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political calculations about regional consequences, and ultimately the fundamental question
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that would determine the future of the Middle East. Could
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diplomacy prevent nuclear war? Or would preventing nuclear war require
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ending diplomacy. President Mitchell's answer came two weeks later. The
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President wants diplomacy to succeed. National Security Advisor Taylor informed
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me during a secure call, but he understands the timeline constraints.
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He's authorizing contingency planning for military support of Israeli operations,
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but only if diplomatic negotiations fail conclusively. This was the
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authorization we'd been calculating toward for months. American military planning
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would proceed parallel to diplomatic negotiations, with implementation dependent on
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diplomatic failure. But the timeline for diplomatic failure was measured
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in weeks, while the timeline for operational preparation required months.
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The mathematics were becoming increasingly impossible to solve. Meanwhile, Iranian
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intelligence was drawing conclusions about Israeli military preparation that accelerated
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their nuclear timeline even further. Archive Control Wolf reports unusual
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activity in Iranian security protocols came Colonel Koremi's encryptid message
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in February twenty twenty five. Senior leadership has concluded that
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Israeli military action is probable regardless of diplomatic outcomes. Their
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accelerating weapons development as to terrence against attack. This was
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the nightmare scenario we'd calculated but hoped to avoid. Iranian
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perception of imminent Israeli attack was triggering acceleration of nuclear
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development that would make Israeli attack inevitable. The preparations designed
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to prevent nuclear war were creating conditions that made nuclear
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war more likely. But the intelligence Karemi provided also revealed
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something more disturbing. Iranian leadership had decided to complete nuclear
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weapons development, regardless of diplomatic agreements. They would negotiate publicly
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while developing weapons privately, using diplomacy to buy time for
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nuclear completion. President Mitchell's diplomatic strategy was being manipulated by
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opponents who had no intention of honoring diplomatic commitments. Mister President,
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I briefed him during a secure video conference in March
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twenty twenty five. Iranian leadership is using negotiations as cover
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for completing weapons development. They're calculating that nuclear capability provides
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better security than nuclear agreements. Mitchell's response revealed the psychological
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burden of making decisions that could trigger regional war or
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enable nuclear war. Marcus, I became president to prevent conflicts,
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not start them. But I also became president to protect
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American interests in Allied security. If Iran is manipulating diplomacy
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to complete nuclear weapons, then diplomacy becomes complicit in nuclear proliferation.
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The President was reaching this s same mathematical conclusion as
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Israeli leadership. Preventing nuclear war might require triggering conventional war,
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but he needed proof that diplomacy had failed conclusively before
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authorizing military action that could fail catastrophically. The proof came
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in April twenty twenty five, when Tehrani provided intelligence about
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a new underground enrichment facility at FORDEAH that would be
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immune to conventional military strikes. They're calling it the Immunity Project.
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Tehrani transmitted deep underground construction designed to withstand American bunker
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busting bombs. Once operational, it will provide weapons grade uranium
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production capacity that cannot be eliminated by external military action.
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The facility would become operational in July twenty twenty five.
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After that date, Iran's nuclear weapons capability would be essentially
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invulnerable to me military intervention. The window for preventing nuclear
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war was closing in three months. I brief both Israeli
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and American leadership about the timeline implications. The mathematical conclusion
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was unavoidable military action before July or nuclear weapons forever.
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Prime Minister Weiss reached his decision. First, we cannot allow
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Iran to achieve invulnerable nuclear capability, he announced during a
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Security Cabinet meeting in May twenty twenty five. If American
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diplomacy succeeds, military preparation becomes unnecessary. If American diplomacy fails,
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military preparation becomes essential. Either way, preparation must be completed
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before July. President Mitchell reached the same conclusion through different mathematics.
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If Iran achieves invulnerable nuclear capability, American security guarantees become meaningless.
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He told his national security team. Israel would face existential
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threats that America couldn't address. Milliklitarily, regional nuclear proliferation would
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become inevitable. Global nuclear stability would be fundamentally compromised. The
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decision emerged from months of calculation. Operation Rising Line would
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launch before Iran's immunity facility became operational, but the decision
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also required accepting human costs that had been accumulating for
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seven years. Doctor Ahmad Trani would provide final intelligence for
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targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, knowing that accurate targeting would likely
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result in his death. Colonel Koremi would coordinate with Israeli
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operations while maintaining his cover as an Iranian intelligence officer,
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accepting that success would probably result in his execution. The
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infiltration network we'd build over three years would be consumed
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by the operation it enabled, Marcus Director Cohen said during
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our final planning meeting in May twenty twenty five. This
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operation will save millions of lives by preventing nuclear war,
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but it will cost the lives of everyone who made
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it possible. How do we calculate the moral mathematics of
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that exchange? I'd been calculating that equation for seven years.
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Every operation since the Shora Bad Warehouse heist had required
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sacrificing people who served the cause. They believed in the
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network that prevented nuclear war would be consumed by preventing
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nuclear war. The mathematics were brutal, but clear. The lives
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saved by preventing nuclear weapons would justify the lives loss
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preventing nuclear weapons. But accepting that calculation required becoming someone
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I'd never wanted to be. The final authorization came during
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a secure call between Prime Minister Weiss and President Mitchell
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on June tenth, twenty twenty five. Jim Weis said, using
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the informal address that reflected years of diplomatic relationship, Iranian
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nuclear development has reached the point where military action becomes inevitable,
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regardless of diplomatic preferences. The question is whether America supports
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Israeli action or whether Israel acts a lie. Benjamin Mitchell replied,
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America understands the timeline constraints and threat assessments will provide
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the support necessary for successful operations, but those operations must
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be precisely targeted to minimize civilian casualties in regional escalation.
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The decision was made. Operation Rising Line would launch within
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days with American support for Israeli execution, targeting Iranian nuclear
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facilities with precision enabled by intelligence provided by assets who
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would likely die providing it. From my Tel Aviv control center,
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I began final operational coordination satellite targeting data provided by
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Tehrani's network infiltration assets positioned by networks that Captain Emir
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had spent years trying to expose American bunker busting bombs
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calibrated for facilities that Colonel Karimi had helped us identify.
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Seven years of intelligence operations culminating in military action that
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would consume everyone who made it possible. The last message
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from doctor Amatarani came on June twelfth, twenty twenty five.
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Archive Control final intelligence package transmitted. Targeting data for all
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nuclear facilities confirmed. Tell my daughter I was trying to
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build something beautiful. Tell her the world is worth saving,
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even when saving it requires sacrificing everything we love. The
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last message from Colonel Koremi came six hours later. Wolf
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confirms Iranian leadership gathering at emergency command centers. Security protocols
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suggest they expect imminent action, recommend immediate implementation. This will
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be my final transmission. The network that had prevented nuclear
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war was ready to be consumed by the operation that
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would complete the prevention of nuclear war. On June thirteenth,
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twenty twenty five, at zero one hundred hours local time,
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Israeli aircraft launched from bases across the country. American B
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two bombers departed from bases in the continental United States.
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Precision munitions, calibrated using intelligence provided by Iranian assets who
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had chosen conscience over country, began their flight toward targets
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that would determine whether nuclear war remained a threat or
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became inevitable. The decision to prevent nuclear war had been made.
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The human cost of that decision was about to be
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calculated in the mathematics of mutually assured destruction. Next time,
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I'll tell you about the sixty three hours when Operation
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Rising Lion unfolded across the Middle East. How precision strikes
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enabled by seven years of intelligence gathering destroyed Iran's nuclear
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weapons capability while consuming everyone who made that precision possible.
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Some decisions take months to reach and minutes to implement.
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Some equations balance only when everyone who calculated them is eliminated,
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and some mathematics require accepting that saving the world means
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becoming people who no longer deserved to live in the
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world they saved. The final calculation was about to begin.
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This episode is a production of Caloroga Shark Media executive
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producers Mark Francis and John McDermott. For more shows like
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this based on real world events, please go to Caloroga
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dot com. The link is in the show notes. AI
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production assistance may have been used in this series.