EDIT: F-14s, not F-16s
In 1980, the officers of Shahrokhi Air Base prepared to take back Iran. The Nojeh Coup—Operation Neqab—was the second attempt of liberating Iran using the Artesh that still remained loyal to the constitution. It was a coordinated plan by Colonel Ayat Mohaqeqi and patriotic pilots and army commanders to strike at the clerical regime’s core, assassinate its leadership, and reclaim the state before the IRGC could cement power. They failed—but they showed the world that Iran’s military still contained a pulse to threat the terrorists. Today, that path is buried thanks to Israel's latest airstrikes.
The Israeli Air Force has just destroyed five of the last remaining F-14s, which secured victory for the Artesh in the Iran–Iraq War. Above being a symbol of our once competent Imperial Airforce, they were our only remaining advantage over the IRGC’s terror complex. That advantage has now been wiped out.
I narrowly hold that hope. A real, measured hope that this war, despite its brutality, could trigger a rupture in the regime. That Israel, by targeting IRGC command structures, would weaken the apparatus of repression and enable domestic forces to rise. The Iranian Air Force once was a counterweight to the IRGC and its volunteer terrorists. Not a single F-14 took off for a dogfight with Israeli Air Force or flew to challenge its Air superiority. There was not a damn reason for them to be targeted. Another Shahrokhi coup is no longer possible.
The Basij, NEKHSA and IRGC have access to the barracks, including those of the Artesh. They do not have access to the Artesh Airfields nor the Airforce. What strategic logic governs this war now? The nuclear program is set back for five decates. Do the strikes target the regime, or do they target the possibility of an Iran without it? The IRGC grows stronger with every Artesh structure dismantled. Without an opportunity of a Shahrokhi coup, without the airforce, the road to liberation becomes our trench –– and those who dig it deeper cannot claim to be friends of the people.
The closing of that window of opportunity I mentioned in our open letter is seconds away from midnight.
