Please share it everywhere!! By Craig Andresen – The National Patriot – Commentary
Unfortunately, there are some out there, even on our right side of the political aisle, that proclaim loudly, ad nauseam about how President Trump has no idea what he’s doing regarding the Iran war, is a fool, and that President Trump has been “out-Trumped” by Iran.
God forbid anyone would disagree with them or offer receipts and facts showing that despite making mistakes, there has always been a time tested and successful strategy in play and they are labeled by the ad nauseam critics as being up Trump’s butt, brown-nosers or the “Trump Can Do No Wrong Brigade.”
Among the ad nauseam complaints has been the lack of kinetic action against Iran’s Pick-Axe Mountain, and to be fair, many have raised that concern. Also amongst the ad nauseam complaints from the “Trump can do no right brigade” with regard to the Iran war has been the “recent” revelation of reports of Russia “beating the blockade” and delivering weapons and weapon parts to Iran. I want to be very clear on this point…I’m not saying that the “recent” reports are wrong. What I am saying is that the reports are not recent, and there IS a certain tactic, or strategy in play here.
The question that should be asked by those wondering why kinetic action hasn’t been taken against Pick Axe or against weapons deliveries from Russia is “why not?,” but that doesn’t appear to be of concern to some as even though perfectly good reasons exist…to the most staunch members of the “Trump can do no right brigade,” they just don’t care. It interrupts their anti-Trump Iran war ad nauseam-palooza. Nonetheless, military and intel strategies and tactics do exist, and for good reasons.
On August 23rd, I published a commentary regarding the DIME strategy which outlined the very strategy, time-tested and successful, that was being employed against Iran and regardless of what some continue to claim, it is working very well. Naturally, the complaints from some have been that it hasn’t stopped Iran from receiving weapons shipments from Russia and it hasn’t ended the war yet so it’s a failure. News flash…if one is looking for instant success, analyzing military operations is most likely outside one’s wheelhouse.
That brings me to the strategy and tactics regarding Pick Axe Mountain and shipments from Russia into Iran.
It is called the F3EAD Process, and like the DIME strategy, not many have ever heard of it.
The F3EAD Process is a combined military/intel operation and the acronym stands for Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze and Disseminate. It is a targeting strategy related to counterinsurgency high value entities developed by U.S. Special Ops and literally run out of CENTCOM. Here’s how it works.
Find: Locate and identify the target (such as a high-value individual, hostile actor, or network compromise) using intelligence collection sources like signals intelligence (SIGINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), or open-source and network telemetry.
Fix: Pinpoint the target’s exact position, identity, or scope with enough certainty to allow for planning and operational tracking.
Finish: Execute the tactical action to neutralize, capture, remove, or contain the threat (whether through kinetic operations in the military or containment/eradication in cyber defense).
Exploit: Gather and extract all physical or digital materials from the site or network compromise—such as seized hard drives, mobile devices, forensic artifacts, or indicators of compromise (IoCs).
Analyze: Process, examine, and synthesize the exploited data to uncover tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), network connections, or predictive indicators.
Disseminate: Distribute the finished intelligence and actionable insights to relevant commanders, operational units, or defensive teams to inform future targets and repeat the cycle.
I know that’s a lot to absorb, and before I delve into how it applies to Pick Axe and weapons shipments, F3EAD was not invented by President Trump, nor was it an idea he initiated. It was, I believe, one of several options presented to him by CENTCOM (Admiral Bradley Cooper) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel “Razin” Caine, CIA Director, John Ratcliff, and Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. Another thing that needs to be made clear with regard to Pick Axe and Russian weapons shipments is that I believe we are currently between the Fix and Finish point in the process.
Here is why the F3EAD strategy is important. I believe that Pick Axe Mountain wasn’t hit during Operation Midnight Hammer for a couple of reasons – the depth of it being one thing, and the strategic importance of it to the Iranian regime as a hub for other activity. Another reason may well be what exactly resides deep beneath Pick Axe. That is not to say we haven’t been watching over it from orbit thanks to Space Force, and I am sure both the U.S. military and the IDF, both the CIA and Mossad are well-aware of everything that has been happening on that particular piece of real estate.
As to the “recent” shipments of weapons and weapons components coming from Russia to Iran, know that most but not all of the reported shipments occurred before the February 28th kickoff of the war, but why would we allow such deliveries via the Caspian Sea or land routes AFTER the war began? Well…to track where they were going. That would be the Find and Fix parts of the F3EAD process. COULD we have taken kinetic action as soon as the deliveries landed on Iranian soil? Sure, but when the Iranian regime has spent nearly half a century hiding their weapons and command centers, we would severely limit targeting options by not being patient enough to track said deliveries to their final destinations.
Put another way, of you don’t know where the hidden or buried sites are, striking the shipments as soon as they enter Iran, or disabling roads, bridges, ports, airport and rail systems would prevent new shipments from entering Iran, but leave the regime’s hidden sites…still hidden. Short-term gain, long-term problem.
Does this process work? When applied properly, it has a much higher degree of success than if applied improperly, or not at all. Examples of the process being applied properly I believe can be found in how Seal Team 6 found and dispatched of bin Laden, how the U.S. operation found and snatched Maduro, and for that matter, I believe it had quite a bit to do with the February 28th joint U.S./Israel raid on the Ayatollah’s Tehran compound. While there is no declassified reports showing a direct link to the F3EAD process on February 28th, what we do know, is that it was CIA intel that switched the timing of that operation from a night mission to one in broad daylight, along with the coordinated bombing of Iran’s air defense and communications by American forces coupled with the destruction of the compound by Israeli forces in kinetic action over the span of basically 5 minutes…it is pretty difficult to believe the F3EAD process wasn’t at the heart of the operation.
For those who claim that all the troops wearing U.S. uniforms that have been in the area for several months are doing “nothing,” those troops have been providing logistics, calculating targeting scenarios, sharing intel back and forth with our strongest ally in the region (Israel) and coordinating operations via CENTCOM regarding moving oil through the Strait of Hormuz while keeping eyes on IRGC capabilities throughout the theater of operations.
Of course, none of this matters if the third part of the process, Finish, doesn’t come into play, and with that in mind, CENTCOM now has just about everything they need regarding military assets and equipment in place specifically for a massive strike against the IRGC and the Iranian regime. Both the stealth and non-stealth air assets are there, the refueling tankers are there, the logistical aspects are in place, and months of data has been compiled. Add to that, the IDF and Mossad capabilities and assets ready to go, and a very nervous IRGC because they know they’re not in control of their own destiny…and all military signs are pointing to something huge.
Adding to what many now believe are soon to come massive strikes against the Iranian regime are reports of more and more joint training flights by a combination of U.S. and Israeli fighter jets over Syria, Iraq and even Iran itself coupled with a massive build-up of U.S. KC-135 refueling tankers now stationed in the area. Add to that, reportedly there is now a KC-135U Combat Scent spy plane which has been dispatched to the Middle East, and that’s noteworthy because only two such planes exist. That high-tech aircraft specializes in detecting enemy radar systems and enemy missile-launch systems then in real-time, disseminating targeting scenarios to U.S. and Israeli fighters and bombers.
In other words, the instant the IRGC turns on any air defense radar, be it for detection of incoming aircraft or for missile targeting purposes, the exact coordinates are automatically relayed and those IRGC installations get destroyed.
Inside Iran itself, pro-Pahlavi forces have increased attacks against the IRGC, the regime has distributed iodine pills around their one and only nuclear power station, and they have instructed people to go to designated “shelters” which are most likely near sites the regime know to be targets so they can blame the U.S. and Israel for killing innocent civilians.
Qatar, which has been desperately trying to “mediate” an end to the war with Iran now says “diplomacy” isn’t going to work. Secretary Of State, Marco Rubio last weekend said there’s not much hope diplomacy would work, and last weekend, President Trump said it would be, “highly unlikely” we would launch fresh attacks against Iran if upcoming peace talks show progress.
Last weekend, President Trump said y best guess is that as soon as the USS Theodore Roosevelt reaches the theater of operations, in about a week, the green light will be given.
While we wait…buckle up.
Copyright © 2026 Craig Andresen / thenationalpatriot.com all rights reserved
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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Diane Sori’s latest Op-Ed at The Patriot Factor, JD Vance…Hidden Truths Now Exposed
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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS…LIVE!
Tuesday, November 10thth from 7 to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss ‘ JD Vance…Hidden Truths Now Exposed‘’; “The F3EAD Process – A Necessary Delay In The Iran War” and important news of the day. Tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com Click ‘LISTEN LIVE.’
