America Enters The Iran War Chat
Trump pulls the war trigger, what could possibly go wrong?
It turns out the two-week consideration time only lasts for two days.
Out of the blue on Saturday afternoon, Trump suddenly announced on Truth Social that the US had completed a “very successful” attack on three Iranian nuclear sites, which immediately led to the social media platform experiencing global outages due to the traffic.
The facilities at Fordo, Natanz, and Esfahan were attacked. According to Reuters, B-2 bombers were deployed in the US-led intervention.
Iran confirmed the strikes, as state media reported that the three nuclear sites bombed by the US had evacuated their personnel some time ago. Iran’s foreign minister called it “outrageous” and warned it “will have everlasting consequences,” adding that Tehran “reserves all options” to retaliate.
Fox News host Sean Hannity said he had spoken with Trump, and the president confirmed six bunker buster GBU-57 Massive Ordinance Penetrators were used in Fordo, adding that 30 Tomahawk missiles fired from US submarines struck the Iranian nuclear sites of Natanz and Festivus.
Earlier on Saturday, several US Air Force B-2 bombers (The only aircraft capable of carrying bombs to destroy the Fordo facility) took off and headed across the Pacific in a show of force, as Reuters reported Israeli officials told their American counterparts that they do not want to wait two weeks for Iran to reach a deal, threatening it would act alone if necessary.
After the US conducted strikes on Iran, CNN reported that Trump spoke with Netanyahu on the phone, as officials say America gave its close ally a heads-up before the strikes.
On Truth Social, Trump called the strikes “a HISTORIC MOMENT” for the US, Israel, and the world, and called on Iran to surrender. In a brief phone call with NBC News, Trump called the strikes on Iran a “great success” and a “complete and total success.” Ahead of a planned White House speech, NBC News reported that Trump was expected to say the US is not currently planning additional strikes inside Iran.
Netanyahu congratulated Trump for his “bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might” of the American military in the first public statement since the US strikes, hailing that the decision will “change history.” Not hiding his glee at the attacks, the Israeli leader said "America has been truly unsurpassed,” and that Trump had created a "pivot of history" that will "help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace."
During Trump’s speech inside the White House, the president said the three targeted nuclear facilities were part of a “horribly destructive enterprise” and were “totally obliterated.” In a warning to Iran, Trump said there will either be peace or tragedy in the country, and the US would go after other Iranian targets if peace doesn’t come.
On social media, the UN Secretary General António Guterres called it a “dangerous escalation,” warning there is now a "growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.”
According to CBS News, the US had reached out to Iran through diplomatic channels on Saturday, saying the strikes were limited in scope and Washington does not want to seek regime change.
A lot has happened in the past few hours, and it is only going to get crazier. On Sunday morning, the Pentagon will hold a press conference featuring Pete Hegseth. Presumably, we will learn more about the operational details then. But the more burning question lies in what Iran would do in response. If Tehran’s regime does little, it loses face. But if it does too much, the thing Ayatollah Khamenei and his government loses are their heads.
Iran could launch strikes against US embassies and military bases around the Middle East and fire more missiles against Israel, which would certainly send a message, if not further pouring gasoline on the fire.
Iran could use its proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas to wreak havoc in the Middle East, or launch terrorist attacks in the US and its allies. God forbid this happens, as the casualties will be more heartbreaking and tragic.
In a less extreme option, Iran could shut down global trade by attacking oil facilities in the Persian Gulf or mining the Strait of Hormuz, which would increase inflation, and oil prices would skyrocket, benefiting countries like Russia. So, good job to all those who voted for Trump to lower prices!
Honestly, anything Iran could do is terrible. As one expert told Fortune magazine: “Its options are the ‘strategic equivalent of a suicide bombing.’
Also, let’s go back to Trump’s speech for a moment. Take a close read of this portion of the president’s address.
With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all by far and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed, and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago.
This reads less like Trump wants to stop US airstrikes with what happened on Saturday, and more like he wants to open the door to a potential forever war, the same type of conflict Trump has rightly criticized during the campaign trail.
Given Israel’s strong friendship with the US, it should not be surprising that Trump spent a portion of his speech thanking Netanyahu and the IDF.
I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister [Benjamin] Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before. And we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done, and most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades. Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that’s so.
Suffice it to say, for all the progressives and Trump supporters who duped themselves into voting for Trump because he would stop all the wars and never engage in new conflicts, the events of the past 24 hours should shatter those misconceptions completely.
There is a chance we will look back at it and say it is a success, and Trump was right to do it. But that must be predicated on the basis that Iran does come to the negotiating table and things don’t go southways, fast.
As noted before, the conflict is in the hands of three volatile men, so hold your breath as you read the news in the upcoming week.
Congressional leadership was only informed of the operation AFTER it occurred and the fighter/bombers were out of Iranian airspace. However Israeli leadership was informed ahead of time. Our western and NATO allies were kept completely in the dark. The entire operation was illegal and unconstitutional. Trump and his cabal must be impeached and removed from power. 8647!
There is a chance this will in fact bring peace — or at least an extended interlude in wars hot & cooler — in the Middle East.
And I hope that is the case now that this die has been cast so recklessly.
But I fear & expect that will not be the case.
Perhaps F47 can be awarded a Nobel prize for pushing the Ummah past its deep sectarian differences, reuniting Sunni with Shia — sadly, in joint support against the American threat to world peace.
https://apnews.com/live/israel-iran-war-updates#00000197-9621-d77f-a797-ffad26930000