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Pentagon pizza tracker predicted ‘busy night’ before Israel’s secret Iran strikes

A social media account monitoring food deliveries in the area also noted ‘abnormally low traffic’ at a gay bar near the US military HQ

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The Pentagon building in June 2021. Pizza deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled right before the US invasion of Panama in December 1989, and surged again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Photo: AFP

The timing of Israel’s plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.

About an hour before Iranian state television first reported loud explosions in Tehran, pizza orders around the Pentagon went through the roof, according to a viral social media account claiming to offer “hot intel” on “late-night activity spikes” at the US military headquarters.

“As of 6.59pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity,” the account “Pentagon Pizza Report” posted on Thursday.

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Not confining its analysis to pizza, the account noted three hours later that a gay bar near the Pentagon had “abnormally low traffic for a Thursday night” and said this probably pointed to “a busy night at the Pentagon”.

While far from scientific, the Pentagon pizza theory “is not something the internet just made up”, The Takeout, an online site covering restaurants and food trends, noted earlier this year.

04:09

Israel launches strikes on Iran, targeting nuclear facilities in Tehran

Israel launches strikes on Iran, targeting nuclear facilities in Tehran

Pentagon-adjacent pizza joints also got much busier than usual during Israel’s 2024 missile strike on Iran, it said, as there are “a multitude of fast food restaurants in the Pentagon complex, but no pizza places”.

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