Trump Blocks Israel’s Planned Strike on Iranian Nuclear Sites

3 comments

1. Summary:

   – Israel prepared detailed plans to hit Iranian nuclear sites as early as May, aiming to set back Iran’s bomb program by over a year.
   – Nearly every scenario depended on American help, including airstrikes, commando raid protection, and missile defense against Iranian retaliation.
   – After internal debate, President Trump vetoed the strike in favor of indirect negotiations, giving Iran a deadline of a few months to negotiate limits on its program.
   – CENTCOM’s Gen. Kurilla, NSA Waltz initially explored support, while others (DNI Gabbard, Chief of Staff Wiles, SecDef Hegseth, Vance) warned a strike risked a wider war and doubted its efficacy.
   – The US repositioned two carriers (Harry S. Truman, Carl Vinson), THAAD and Patriot batteries, and B‑2 stealth bombers to the region, officially for Yemen operations and possibly for Iran support.
   – Israel’s preferred commando-and-bomb raid wouldn’t be ready until October, so plans shifted toward an extended bombing campaign beginning in early May.
   – In late March, Tehran’s leadership indicated openness to indirect talks, a rare gesture since Trump tore up the 2015 deal in his first term.
   – During his April Washington visit, Netanyahu pressed Trump for US-led facility destruction; Trump publicly announced talks instead but privately kept “all options on the table.”
   – CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Jerusalem post-visit to explore covert operations and tougher sanctions alongside strike and diplomacy options.

2. The fact that all of this was leaked to the media makes me think it’s to pressure Iran in negotiations. The cynic in me thinks negotiations will be fruitless and one way or another Netanyahu gets what he wants – the dismantling of the Iranian regime. Not even convinced that this isn’t the Trump administrations true goal either. Having negotiations fail is probably just a pretext for the US to facilitate open military action against Iran. It will be interesting to see if Iran bites this time, was really quite surprised to see them wisely deescalate previous provocations. But we have to keep in mind that every time they choose not to react it weakens their standing with their user base – who could be happy with their government not reacting to finding out that the enemy was planning on bombing the state? Their options seem grim, either lose the support of the people and slowly fade in power and support or get snuffed out fighting a futile war.

3. Yeah it didn’t happen. News like this pop up everytime there is a conflict between Israel and Iran.

   It’s most likely Trump putting pressure on Iran to bring them to negotiation table

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