Tag: israel

Israel’s Attack on Iran: The Violent New World Being Born Is Going To Horrify You

Western politicians and media are tying themselves up in knots trying to spin the impossible: presenting Israel’s unmistakable war of aggression against Iran as some kind of “defensive” move.

This time there was no rationalising pretext, as there was for Israel to inflict a genocide in Gaza following Hamas’ one-day attack on 7 October 2023.

There was not a serious attempt beforehand to concoct a bogus doomsday scenario – as there was in the months leading up to the US and UK’s illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. Then we were lied to about Baghdad having “weapons of mass destruction” that could be launched at Europe in 45 minutes.

Rather, Iran was deep in negotiations with the United States on its nuclear enrichment program when Israel launched its unprovoked attack last Friday.

The West has happily regurgitated claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was forced to act because Iran was on the cusp of producing a nuclear bomb – an entirely evidence-free claim he has been making since 1992.

None of his dire warnings has ever been borne out by events.

In fact, Israel struck Iran shortly after President Donald Trump had expressed hope of reaching a nuclear agreement with Tehran, and two days before the two countries’ negotiators were due to meet again.

In late March Trump’s head of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had expressly stated as part of the US intelligence community’s annual assessment: “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ali] Khameini has not authorized a nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

This week four sources said to be familiar with that assessment told CNN that Iran was not trying to build a bomb but, if it changed tack, it would be “up to three years away from being able to produce and deliver one [a nuclear warhead] to a target of its choosing”.

Nonetheless, by Tuesday this week Trump appeared to be readying to join Israel’s attack. He publicly rebuked his own intelligence chief’s verdict, sent US warplanes to the Middle East via the UK and Spain, demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender”, and made barely veiled threats to kill Khameini.

Keep reading

The Iran Trap: Everyone Wants Americans To Fight Their Wars For Them

One of the defining aspects of Ukraine’s strategy in the war against Russia is escalation – Not so much in terms of damage to Russia, but in terms of western involvement. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has made it his primary mission to convince western allies that their direct intervention in the war is absolutely necessary. Why?  He asserts that Ukraine is the “guardian at the gate” supposedly preventing Russia from steamrolling through Europe.

The claim is absurd for a few reasons.

First, NATO officials and the establishment media have spent the better part of the last three years claiming that Russia was on the ropes and their military was crippled. Now, suddenly, as it becomes clear that Ukraine is losing the war badly (a result I predicted at the beginning of the conflict), those same people are asserting that Russia has the ability to invade multiple countries and rampage through the EU.

Second, we’ve heard the “domino effect” argument before. The public was fooled by the same idea during the Vietnam War. The notion that Americans MUST play world police in every fight or face a series of toppling catastrophes is a lie that has plagued our society for generations. The fact of the matter is, most wars have nothing to do with us.

Third, Ukraine is already a proxy nation; the real conflict has always been between NATO and Russia. The Ukrainians would have been overrun within the first year of the war without NATO intel and NATO weaponry. But what Zelensky and his handlers from globalist think-tanks want is US boots on the ground, and they will say or do ANYTHING to make that end result a reality.  They WANT world war.

The play for Ukraine during the Biden Administration was to assert that they are the vital buffer, the shield protecting the US and EU from harm.  The Trump Administration appears to be far less inclined to embrace or promote this narrative. In fact, Trump’s disgust for Zelensky has been made rather evident.

This leaves Europe to fill the gap, and if they do attempt deployments in the region a world war is assured. Whether or not the US gets involved at that point is hard to say, but the Europeans clearly seem to think they can lure America into the fray.

Keep reading

What to know about the MOP and the B-2, the bunker-buster bomb and plane that could be used to strike Iran

Israel’s strikes against Iran have killed a number of its top nuclear scientists and battered its nuclear facilities, but complete destruction of Iran’s ability to make weapons-grade uranium is believed to be out of reach — unless the U.S. agrees to help.

At least one key uranium enrichment site, Fordo, has so far been unscathed. Located 300 feet beneath a mountain and protected by Russian-produced air defenses, Fordo is believed by military experts to be key to Iran’s nuclear program. Nuclear non-proliferation experts say this is where Iran has tried to enrich uranium for weapons purposes and expand its stockpile of enriched uranium. 

Israel’s best chance at destroying the facility at Fordo could lie with a U.S.-produced bomb that’s so heavy that it can only be dropped by a U.S. plane. At a hearing Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire raised this with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

“It’s being reported that the president is being asked to consider providing the bunker-buster bomb that is required to be carried only by the B-2 Bomber and would require a U.S. pilot,” she said, asking Hegseth whether he had been asked to provide President Trump with options for striking the Middle East. He declined to answer.

Mr. Trump is considering joining Israel’s offensive against Iran, and approved attack plans Tuesday, but has not made a final decision, CBS News has reported. The White House said Thursday that the president would make a decision on whether to order a strike within the next two weeks. Sources told CBS News that the president had discussed the logistics of using bunker-buster bombs as he weighs whether to wade into the conflict between Iran and Israel.

Keep reading

Report: Pentagon Agency Believes US Needs To Drop A Nuke To Destroy Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Plant

The Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has told US officials that in order to destroy Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant, which is buried deep underground, the US may need to drop a nuclear weapon, The Guardian has reported.

According to the report, Pentagon officials who received the briefing were told that dropping GBU-57s, conventional 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs, would not penetrate deep enough underground and that it would only do enough damage to collapse tunnels and bury the facility under rubble.

The officials were told that in order to destroy Fordow completely, the US would likely need to first soften the ground with conventional bombs and then ultimately drop a tactical nuclear weapon from a B2 bomber.

The report said that President Trump is not considering using a nuclear weapon and that the option was not presented to him by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. According to a report from Axios, Trump is casting doubt on the idea that the GBU-57s could do enough damage to destroy the facility.

Israel wants the US to drop the bunker-busting bombs on Fordow since it lacks the capability, but so far, Trump has not given the order for US airstrikes on Iran. The president said on Thursday that he would decide within two weeks, although there are indications that attacks could begin this weekend.

Keep reading

Tulsi Gabbard sidelined in Trump administration discussions on Israel and Iran

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, an outspoken critic of past U.S. military interventions abroad, appears to have fallen out of favor with President Donald Trump as he weighs military action against Iran, according to multiple senior administration officials with knowledge of the matter.

Gabbard allies insist that, while there is some White House tension, some of the public blowback is overstated, and none interviewed by NBC News expect her to leave the administration as a result of the president’s Iran policy, even if that includes direct U.S. involvement.

Gabbard’s politically perilous position burst into the open this week when Trump brushed her back over her testimony to Congress in March. At that time, she said the U.S. intelligence community did not believe Iran was building a nuclear weapon — a comment at odds with Trump’s recent public statement about the threat posed by Iran’s potential nuclear program.

“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump told reporters Tuesday on Air Force One.

A person with knowledge of the matter said the U.S. intelligence community’s view has not changed since Gabbard’s testimony in March.

But the idea that a president would openly refute his director of national intelligence immediately spurred questions about whether she is now iced out of decision-making on the issue.

It also reflects a rift that is playing out publicly in Trump’s MAGA coalition, with some supporters advocating standing by Israel in whatever military action it takes against Iran and others saying intervention would go against the “America First” philosophy. Trump’s criticism of U.S. involvement in past conflicts — and his campaign promise to be a “peacemaker” in his second term — brought in unusual bedfellows, such as Gabbard, who had been a Democratic congresswoman.

Multiple senior administration officials said Gabbard has been sidelined in internal administration discussions about the conflict between Israel and Iran. Even two of her allies who spoke to NBC News acknowledged that her standing took a hit when she posted a video on June 10 after a trip to Hiroshima, Japan. The video, which featured the simulated destruction of American cities and Gabbard warning about the dangers of nuclear war, annoyed the White House team, the officials said.

Gabbard did not attend a meeting of top officials June 8 at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, to discuss tensions between Israel and Iran, which raised fresh questions about her status in the administration. A White House official told NBC News that Gabbard was not present only because she had to take part in scheduled training as a member of the National Guard.

Gabbard’s past positions on Iran, coupled with her recent comments and Trump’s responses to them, have forced top administration officials into a difficult position. Gabbard has seemingly been at odds with the administration line, but not to the point where they feel the need to abandon her.

Keep reading

Trump faces uproar from MAGA base over possible Iran strike

The prospect of a U.S. strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought President Donald Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East war.

Some of Trump’s most prominent Republican allies, including top lieutenant Steve Bannon, have found themselves in the unusual position of being at odds with a president who largely shares their isolationist tendencies.

Bannon, one of many influential voices from Trump’s “America First” coalition, on Wednesday urged caution about the U.S. military joining Israel in trying to destroy Iran’s nuclear program in the absence of a diplomatic deal.

“We can’t do this again,” Bannon told reporters at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington. “We’ll tear the country apart. We can’t have another Iraq.”

The anti-interventionist part of the Republican Party is watching with alarm as Trump has moved swiftly from seeking a peaceful diplomatic settlement with Iran to possibly having the United States support Israel’s military campaign, including the use of a 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bomb.

The criticism shows the opposition Trump could face from his right-leaning “Make America Great Again” flank should he join the fight, a step that Iran has warned would have big consequences for Americans without specifying what that might be.

A decision by Trump to enter the conflict would be a sharp departure from his usual caution about foreign entanglements. It could impact his campaign to foster good relations in the Gulf and could be a distraction from his efforts to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine and make tariff deals with countries around the world.

The MAGA coalition propelled Trump into office in the 2016 and 2024 elections and remains critically important to him even though he is prevented by the U.S. Constitution from running for a third term.

Upsetting that base could erode Trump’s popularity and factor into whether Republicans hang on to control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.

Keep reading

Trump on Israel-Iran War: “Next Week Is Going to Be Very Big – Maybe Less than a Week”

President Donald Trump spoke with reporters on Wednesday from the White House lawn where he had crews erect two new flagpoles with American flag displays.

The 45th and 47th president was asked about the Israel-Iran War and what he expects from the Iranian regime. Trump hinted that something very big is brewing.

President Trump: Two very simple words. A very simple unconditional surrender. That means I’ve had it, okay? I’ve had it. I give up. No more. Then we go blow up all the military, you know, all the nuclear stuff that’s all over the place there.

No, they had bad intentions. You know, for 40 years they’ve been saying, death to America, death to Israel, death to anybody else that they didn’t like. They were bullies, they were schoolyard bullies, and now they’re not bullies anymore. But we’ll see what happens. Look, nothing’s finished until it’s finished. You know, war is very complex. A lot of bad things can happen. A lot of turns are made. So I don’t know. I wouldn’t say that we won anything yet. I would say that we sure as hell made a lot of progress. And we’ll see. The next week is going to be very big. Maybe less than a week, maybe less.

Keep reading

Israel Running Low On Missile Interceptors As Iran Proves A Stronger Foe Than Expected

Following multiple rounds of Iranian missile barrages that have proven far more effective than many “experts” anticipated, the Israeli Defense Forces are already running low on defensive Arrow interceptor missiles, making Israel all the more desperate for the United States to join the war Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government initiated on Friday the 13th. Meanwhile, as Iran’s retaliation continues, reports of war-fatigue among Israel’s population are already emerging. 

Against that backdrop, President Trump has been dialing up the intensity of his rhetoric as he pushes Iran to capitulate to demands that it cease all uranium enrichment — a demand that Iran has long ruled out as a violation of its sovereignty, while insisting its nuclear program isn’t focused on creating a weapon. The US intelligence community assessed that to be true in March. “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” exclaimed Trump in a terse Tuesday social media post. Trump, who spoke with Netanyahu by phone on Tuesday, is considering options that include a US strike on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reports.  As his deliberations continue — while some members of Congress are backing a resolution that would bar a US attack without congressional authorization — the Pentagon continues shifting a variety of assets toward the region. The DOD insists they’re for defensive use, which includes shielding Israel from the consequences of starting a war with Iran.  

According to an individual briefed on US and Israeli intelligence, Israel is on pace to run out of defensive missiles in 10 to 12 days. “They will need to select what they want to intercept,” that person told the Washington Post. “The system is already overwhelmed.” Arrow interceptors are manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries. The United States has been pushing other missile defense assets into Israel over the last week, but the Wall Street Journal reports that practice is already raising concerns about the effect on US military readiness.

Keep reading

Flight Tracker Allegedly Spies Mysterious Chinese Transport Planes Heading for Iran

At least three transport planes from China reportedly flew to Iran in the three days after Israel began attacking Iran’s nuclear program and military command structure, their cargoes and missions unknown.

The UK Telegraph reported on Tuesday that all three of the cargo planes “flew westward along northern China, crossing into Kazakhstan, then south into Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan,” and then dropped off radar screens as they approached Iran.

All three of the planes apparently filed false flight plans that showed their destination as Luxembourg, but none of them flew anywhere near Europe. Later flights from the same region did head toward Luxembourg, which is the home base of the company that operates the aircraft, Cargolux.

Cargolux, which is partially owned by a Chinese company, on Tuesday denied its planes entered Iranian airspace. The company blamed “faulty public tracking data” for creating the appearance of the planes surreptitiously flying into Iranian airspace.

All three of the planes were Boeing 747 cargo planes, which the Telegraph noted are “commonly used for transporting military equipment and weapons, and hired to fly government contract orders.”

Keep reading

No evidence of nuclear threat from Iran – ex-UK ambassador

There’s no evidence that Iran poses a nuclear threat to Israel, former UK Ambassador to Iran Richard Dalton has said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons shortly after Israel launched air strikes on Iranian territory last week.

Speaking to Sky News last week, Dalton said, “There is no evidence in the public domain” that Iran was on the brink of nuclear weaponization. He noted that US intelligence shows “no change in the basic assessment” that Tehran has decided “to develop nuclear weapons in accordance with their own defense doctrine, which is to eschew weapons of mass destruction.”

“So, we are entitled to disbelieve Netanyahu’s claims that there was some recent change in Iranian policy and behavior until evidence is put in the public domain,” Dalton said.

Israel began bombing Iran last Friday, claiming that the country was nearing the completion of a nuclear bomb. Iran denied the accusations and responded to the Israeli military operation with waves of drone and missile strikes on the Jewish state.

Keep reading