Naming military operations has a long history. For the U.S. strike on Iran, the name “Operation Epic Fury” was chosen, but its meaning remains unknown. Now, a chilling theory might have cracked the mystery.
The U.S and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran last weekend, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior officials.
The operation is still ongoing, and many have died, including six US service members who have been killed in Iranian counterattacks.
The White House released a statement on Tuesday, saying, “Under President Donald J. Trump’s bold command, the United States military is unleashing overwhelming force in Operation Epic Fury — proving once more why the U.S. possesses the most powerful, lethal, and advanced fighting force the world has ever seen. As America’s warriors deliver crushing, devastating hits to eliminate the threat of the Iranian regime once and for all, this is victory in action — decisive, relentless, and unstoppable.”
Naming military operations isn’t a new thing, and this time, it was “Operation Epic Fury. Among some of the most well-known are “Operation Overlord) (the D-Day invasion) and “Operation Neptune Spear” (the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden).
Theories over Donald Trump’s choice of naming Iran strikes “Operation Epic Fury”
The practice of naming military operations dates back to World War I, when German commanders began giving memorable names to the complex sequences of operations they planned.
The United States began naming its secret operations in the 1920s. It was based on the color of the paper plans, such as “Plan Orange”.
In 1995, US Army officer Gregory Sieminski claimed that military codenames are “the first – and quite possibly the decisive – bullet to be fired” in a conflict, due to their ability to influence public opinion.
Moreover, the names are also meant to serve as a morale boost for both those fighting the war on the ground and for public opinion. They can also be named to intimidate the enemy.
The Trump administration chose the name “Operation Epic Fury” for the Iran strikes. But why? Online, several chilling theories have appeared.
Connection to Jeffrey Epstein?
Political commentator Keith Olbermann speculated on X that it was named Operation Epic Fury because “‘Operation Epstein Diversion’ didn’t sound warfightery enough.”
Another user stated, “BREAKING: Per a source close to SEO, Donald Trump insisted the Iran War be named ‘Operation Epic Fury’ so that when people searched ‘Trump ep’ in search engines, autocorrect would suggest ‘Trump Epic Fury’ instead of ‘Trump Epstein’. Absolutely pathetic.”
Rumors about the name being connected to the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have spread online. However, the truth could be far from that, and explained in a much more sensible way.
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the name breaks from US military tradition in naming operations because of its “edginess.”
Expert says Operation Epic Fury “differs” from earlier names
“Operations more commonly have names that will appeal to a wide audience, like Iraqi Freedom [the 2003 invasion of Iraq],” he said.
Cancian added that the name “Operation Epic Fury” was likely chosen from a list of optional names generated by military staffers. He claims the list was composed “based on their sense of what [US defense chief Pete Hegseth], wanted to convey,” a list which could potentially be “three pages long.”
James Dawes, the author of a book on the language of war, agreed with Cancian. He stated that the name Operation Epic Fury was very different from previously used code names.
Epic Fury “differs even from this administration’s earlier names that evoked violent action, like Midnight Hammer or Southern Spear,” he said, as it “names an extreme emotional state, an anger that resists control.”
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