Have you ever wondered what peace sounds like when it's designed by a man who signs death from a golf resort in Florida?
We at FreeAstroScience welcome you today — but not with our usual curiosity about the cosmos. Not with equations. Not with the wonders of physics. Today, we welcome you with a heavy heart and clenched fists. Because today, February 28, 2026, the sky above Iran isn't filled with stars. It's filled with smoke, fire, and the screams of children.
As a sign of protest, FreeAstroScience is suspending all regular scientific content for one day. We refuse to talk about the beauty of the universe while human beings — schoolgirls, teenagers, civilians — are being killed in the name of "freedom" and "peace."
Stay with us. Read this to the end. Because if we stop thinking, if we stop feeling, if we let the sleep of reason take over — then the monsters have already won.
📌 Table of Contents
- 1. The Dealmaker Who Chose Missiles Over Diplomacy
- 2. What Happened on February 28, 2026?
- 3. Operation "Lion's Roar" — Against a Girls' School?
- 4. Peace Was "Within Reach." Then the Bombs Fell.
- 5. Mar-a-Lago: The World's Most Dangerous Living Room
- 6. The Region Burns — Who Asked for This?
- 7. The World Reacts — And Most of It Says "Stop"
- 8. Why FreeAstroScience Won't Stay Silent
The Dealmaker Who Chose Missiles Over Diplomacy
Let's get one thing straight. Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed greatest negotiator in human history, the man who told us he'd bring peace to the Middle East — he just launched what he himself described as a "massive and ongoing" military campaign against Iran.
The man of peace.
Let that sink in for a moment.
This is the same Donald Trump who, less than 48 hours ago, was sitting across from mediators in a diplomatic process. Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had literally written — the day before — that "a peace agreement between the US and Iran is now within reach" Within reach. Close enough to touch.
And then, instead of reaching for peace, Trump reached for the trigger.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president — a man with plenty of his own sins — wrote something that stung because it was true: "The pacifist has shown his true face". Medvedev added that "all negotiations with Iran were a cover operation. Nobody wanted to negotiate anything specific."
We don't often agree with former Kremlin officials. But a broken clock is right twice a day.
What Happened on February 28, 2026?
Here's what we know. This morning — Saturday, the first day of the work and school week in Iran — the United States and Israel carried out coordinated strikes on cities across Iran .
The timing was deliberate. Calculated. Designed to catch people off guard.
As CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson explained, the morning attack was a surprise because last year, when Israel struck Iran, the strikes came overnight . Iran's leadership woke up Saturday thinking diplomacy was still in play. They were wrong.
The Israeli operation was called "Lion's Roar" (Ruggito del Leone). Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called it a "preemptive strike". The US followed minutes later, with Trump confirming Washington had also begun its own campaign.
Let's look at the scale of what happened in just the first few hours:
At least 30 major explosions hit four Iranian cities in the opening wave. Satellite imagery showed black smoke rising from the compound of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israeli security sources told Channel 12 they believe it's "highly unlikely" Khamenei survived. No confirmation exists.
Iran's internet dropped to 4% of normal levels — a near-total blackout. People fled Tehran. Long queues formed at gas stations. Schools and universities closed. And a nation of 88 million people held its breath.
Operation "Lion's Roar" — Against a Girls' School?
Here's where the irony stops being funny and starts being unbearable.
Saturday is the first day of the school week in Iran. Children were in class. Girls — young girls — were sitting at desks in a school in Minab, in the southern province of Hormozgan, when a strike hit the building.
Iranian state media reported that at least 57 students were killed, with dozens more buried under rubble. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said that "tens of innocent young girls" had been killed and maimed says it cannot independently verify these numbers. The Pentagon said it "had nothing to share at this time"
Nothing to share.
Fifty-seven schoolgirls, potentially dead. And the Pentagon has nothing to share.
We're scientists here at FreeAstroScience. We believe in data, in evidence, in verification. We'll wait for confirmed numbers. But whether it's 5 or 57, a single dead child in a bombed school is one child too many. There's no equation in physics, no formula in mathematics, no theorem in any branch of human knowledge that can justify this.
The operation was named "Lion's Roar." What kind of lion roars at schoolgirls?
Peace Was "Within Reach." Then the Bombs Fell.
This might be the most devastating detail of all.
Just days before the strikes, US and Iranian officials were engaged in indirect diplomatic talks, mediated by Oman, in Switzerland . The signals were positive. The atmosphere was one of cautious hope.
Less than 24 hours before the bombs fell, Oman's Foreign Minister posted that "a peace agreement between the US and Iran is now within reach" .
Within. Reach.
Then came the strikes.
Oman's response was swift and heartbroken. Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi wrote on X: "I am dismayed. Serious and active negotiations have once again been compromised." He then added a line that history will remember: "I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war" .
Russia's Foreign Ministry went further, condemning the attack as being carried out "under the guise of a renewed negotiating process". Whether you trust Moscow or not, the sequence of events speaks for itself: negotiate in public, bomb in private.
An Israeli official, speaking anonymously, told Channel 12 that the decision to attack was made during Netanyahu's last visit to Washington. "The Iranians were given a last chance," the official said, "and they blew it, as we predicted."
As they predicted. So the outcome was already decided. The negotiations were theater. The peace talks were a stage set. The diplomats were background actors. The missiles were always the main cast.
Trump, the man of peace, had already signed the script.
Mar-a-Lago: The World's Most Dangerous Living Room
Here's a detail that would be darkly comic if it didn't involve real human lives.
President Trump oversaw the start of what he called "major combat operations" from Mar-a-Lago, his private estate in Palm Beach, Florida . He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who had spent weeks going over options for Iran with the president.
They used a secure room on the estate to monitor the launch .
This isn't new. Mar-a-Lago has become Trump's preferred command center for military destruction. The list is long and grim:
- 2020: The decision to kill Iranian General Qasem Soleimani — made in a windowless basement room at Mar-a-Lago.
- 2017: Strikes on Syria authorized before Trump returned to dinner with China's Xi Jinping — over chocolate cake. "He was eating his cake," Trump said of Xi. "And he was silent."
- 2025–2026: The Yemen air campaign against Houthis, observed fresh from the golf course. Tomahawk missiles into alleged ISIS camps in Nigeria on Christmas Day. The mission to capture Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.
And now, Iran.
A private club. A golf course. A secure room. And the power to set the Middle East on fire.
This is what happens when war becomes a lifestyle. When launching missiles is just another Saturday activity, squeezed between rounds of golf and social media videos.
Trump recorded his announcement to the American people in a video posted on social media — not from the Oval Office, not from a podium, but from Truth Social . In it, he warned that "American lives may be lost" and called on Iranians to "take over your government"
"To the great, proud people of Iran," he said, "I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations" .
Freedom. Delivered by Tomahawk missiles. Gift-wrapped in smoke and rubble.
To the Revolutionary Guards, Trump offered a simple choice: "Lay down your arms and receive full immunity — or face certain death".
The man of peace, ladies and gentlemen.
The Region Burns — Who Asked for This?
Iran didn't wait. Within about two hours of the initial strikes, the first warning of incoming missiles sounded in Israel .
Tehran launched what multiple outlets described as an unprecedented wave of retaliatory strikes against US targets across the Middle East and toward Israel .
Here's what the retaliation looked like:
- Israel: 125 missiles launched, 35 entering Israeli airspace, the rest intercepted. Multiple waves of sirens from Jerusalem to Haifa to Beer Sheva.
- Bahrain: US Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters targeted. Explosions near Manama. Evacuation of the Juffair area began Qatar: Al-Udeid Air Base targeted. Patriot missiles intercepted at least one Iranian missile.
- UAE: Al-Dhafra Air Base targeted. One civilian killed in Abu Dhabi from falling debris .
- Kuwait: Al-Salem Air Base struck. 300 Italian military personnel sheltered in bunkers — all unharmed.
- Dubai: Five explosions heard. Smoke rose near Jabal Ali Port. All flights suspended.
- Jordan: Muwaffaq Al-Salti Air Base targeted. Sirens sounded in Amman.
- Iraq: Smoke near US base at Erbil airport. At least 2 members of Shia militia killed south of Baghdad.
- Syria: 4 civilians killed by an Iranian missile that hit Suwayda.
Oil tankers began avoiding the Strait of Hormuz — the only route for crude oil shipments from the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world . Some companies suspended shipments entirely.
38,500 tourists were stranded in Israel after the closure of airspace. Airlines from ITA Airways to Turkish Airlines to Air France to Qatar Airways suspended flights. Israel's Ben Gurion Airport closed at least until Monday.
The UAE's top adviser, Anwar Gargash, called this an "historic moment filled with challenges," and said the world had "failed" to ensure regional stability . He said the UAE was "not given prior notice" of the military operation and was "extremely, extremely dismayed" .
Nobody asked for this. Not the UAE. Not Qatar. Not Jordan. Not the tourists. Not the schoolgirls in Minab.
Nobody except the man of peace and his friends.
The World Reacts — And Most of It Says "Stop"
The international response tells you everything you need to know.
Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), the key lawmaker behind War Powers efforts, called the strikes "dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic" . He demanded the Senate return immediately for a War Powers vote.
Senator Andy Kim (D-New Jersey) said the strikes are "against the will of the American people" . He added: "I have zero confidence in this president who has so flagrantly violated our Constitution."
Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the strikes raise "serious legal and constitutional concerns" and that Congress was not given a full legal justification .
Even Republican Rep. Thomas Massie — no ally of Democrats — called it an "act of war without congressional authorization".
Abroad, the response was equally sharp:
- France's Emmanuel Macron: "The outbreak of war between the United States, Israel, and Iran carries grave consequences for international peace and security. The ongoing escalation is dangerous for all. It must stop" .
- Spain's Pedro Sánchez: "We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel" .
- European Council President António Costa & European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: Called the strikes "greatly concerning" and urged "maximum restraint" .
- Germany, France, and the UK issued a joint statement: "We did not participate in these raids".
- Oman: "Serious negotiations have been compromised. This is not your war".
- Cuba condemned the attacks as a "clear violation of international law" .
- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk: Deplored the attacks and said they bring only "death, destruction, and human misery".
- Canada's Mark Carney supported preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but the support was measured .
Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote: "Trump has turned 'America First' into 'Israel First' — which always means 'America Last'".
And Netanyahu? He thanked "our great friend, President Donald Trump, for his historic leadership" and said the operation would create conditions for Iranians to "seize their own destiny".
Historic leadership. That's what they're calling it. Historic.
When historians write about this day, we wonder what word they'll actually use.
Why FreeAstroScience Won't Stay Silent
We're a science and culture group. We write about black holes, quantum mechanics, the expansion of the universe, the poetry of mathematics. We explain complex principles in simple terms so that your mind never goes to sleep — because the sleep of reason breeds monsters.
Francisco Goya knew that in 1799. It's truer in 2026 than ever.
Today, we're not talking about neutron stars or gravitational waves. Today, we're talking about the gravity of conscience. The physics of moral responsibility. The math of human suffering — where every number is a name, a face, a life.
We at FreeAstroScience believe that science without conscience is the ruin of the soul — Rabelais wrote that 500 years ago. A nation that can split the atom but can't stop a war has mastered the wrong kind of energy.
We suspend our posts today — just for one day — not because we've run out of things to say about the universe. But because the universe, today, deserves a moment of silence.
For the 57 schoolgirls in Minab. For the civilians in Abu Dhabi, in Suwayda, in Tehran. For the people fleeing with their children, stuck in traffic, trying to get gas. For the 38,500 tourists stranded in a country under missile fire. For every human being who woke up this morning expecting a normal Saturday — and got war instead.
A Final Word
Here's what we know with certainty today, February 28, 2026.
A man who called himself a peacemaker launched a war from a private club in Florida. Negotiations that were "within reach" of success were shredded by bombs dropped at dawn — on a school day. A girls' school lies in rubble. The Middle East is on fire from Tel Aviv to Dubai to Bahrain. Oil tankers are turning around. Airports are closed. Internet in Iran has gone dark. And the world's most powerful military force has told 88 million Iranians to simply "take over your government" — as though regime change were a DIY weekend project.
No war has ever been won by the people who start it. History teaches us that — again and again and again. We just refuse to learn.
At FreeAstroScience, we believe in the power of knowledge. In the stubborn, quiet, revolutionary act of thinking. We don't have missiles. We don't have armies. We have words. And today, our words say one thing:
Stop.
Come back tomorrow. We'll return with our posts about the stars, about physics, about the beauty of understanding. Because the best protest against darkness is to keep the light of reason burning.
Come back to FreeAstroScience.com — where we explain the universe in simple terms, and where we'll never tell you to stop asking questions. Never turn off your mind. Keep it active. Always.
Because the sleep of reason breeds monsters. And today, the monsters are awake.
— Gerd Dani, President of FreeAstroScience – Science and Cultural Group February 28, 2026
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