Trumpā€™s Attacks on Iran Were Based on ā€˜No Intelā€™: Sources
www.rollingstone.com
Trumpā€™s decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities was not based on new intelligence, administration officials say.

Following Trumpā€™s attacks on Iran, an admin official tells Rolling Stone, ā€œThe intelligence assessments have not really changedā€

After Donald Trumpā€™s decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday, administration officials are barely bothering to pretend the unprecedented ā€” and potentially calamitous ā€” attacks were motivated by new intelligence suggesting Iran was on the brink of having nuclear weapons.

Just months ago, Trumpā€™s Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to Congress, in her opening statement, that the U.S. intel community ā€œcontinues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weaponā€ and had not reauthorized its nuclear weapons program.

While Trump recently publicly disputed Gabbardā€™s testimony, according to two administration officials with knowledge of internal deliberations in recent weeks, the presidentā€™s decision to strike was not driven by any new U.S. intelligence on Iran.

  • Saleh@feddit.org
    72Ā·
    22 days ago

    This is the Democratiic parties election platform 2024 (see P82/P83):

    Through aggressive diplomacy backed by U.S. military power, the Administration has worked alongside our allies and partners to deter and defend against Iran and its terrorist surrogates. President Biden has postured U.S. military forces in the region and authorized precision airstrikes on key Iranian-linked targets tied to attacks against U.S. troops to deter further aggression by Iran. President Biden has also continued to protect the American people from terrorism, authorizing military strikes that took out ISIS emirs and the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In response to brazen attacks by Iranian-linked Houthi forces against international commercial shipping, U.S. naval vessels in the Red Sea, and Israel, President Biden ordered military strikes, alongside key allies, against Houthi targets and organized Operation Prosperity Guardian, a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending international shipping and deterring Houthi attacks.

    When Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones against Israel in April 2024, President Biden led an unprecedented defensive coalition ā€“ together with partners from Europe and across the Middle East ā€“ to defeat the attack, protect Israel, and stop the spread of a wider war. Through direct defensive action by the U.S. military and its partners, Iranian munitions did not cause significant damage, demonstrating both Americaā€™s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel and our unrivaled ability to leverage growing regional integration among U.S. partners to counter Iranian aggression.

    All of this stands in sharp contrast to Trumpā€™s fecklessness and weakness in the face of Iranian aggression during his presidency. In 2018, when Iranian-backed militias repeatedly attacked the U.S. consulate in Basra, Iraq Trumpā€™s only response was to close our diplomatic facility.

    They are literally calling Trump ā€œweakā€ for not engaging militarily enough. There is no indication Biden would not have jumped at the first order from Netanyahu to do his bidding, like he did all the years before.