President Trump declined an Israeli plan to attack Iran with US support as soon as next month in favor of attempting diplomacy with Tehran over its civilian nuclear program, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The report said Israel developed plans to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities that would have required significant US support. The initial Israeli plan would have involved a bombing campaign with Israeli commando raids on Iranian nuclear sites in hopes that American aircraft would be involved.
The commando plan would have taken months to prepare, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was looking to attack Iran this May, so the plan shifted to a prolonged bombing campaign that would last over a week. The idea would be to destroy Iran’s air defenses and then start targeting nuclear facilities.
Officials told the Times that Trump made the decision to hold off on the attack after months of internal debate within the administration. The rough consensus, at least for now, is that the US should hold off on the military option to pursue negotiations.
The report said that Vice President JD Vance told the president that he had a unique opportunity to reach a deal with Iran, but he said that if the negotiations failed, Trump could then support the Israeli attack.
Axios also reported on the divide between the administration, with some officials supporting the negotiations and others being more skeptical and leaning toward bombing Iran, even though US intelligence agencies have recently reaffirmed there’s no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
The Axios report said that Vance was the unofficial leader of the officials pushing for diplomacy with Iran and supporting the idea of the US making compromises. Other officials in favor of this approach include Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy who is leading the negotiations with Iran, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The officials against diplomacy include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Trump is also under pressure from US Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) to take military action against Iran.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran and is currently conducting a major bombing campaign in Yemen. In recent weeks, the US has deployed additional bombers, another aircraft carrier, and other air assets to threaten Iran. Those assets are also being used to ramp up attacks on Yemen.
The Times report said that in an internal meeting this month, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently presented an intelligence assessment that found the US military buildup in the Middle East could potentially spark a wider conflict with Iran that the United States did not want.
It remains unclear how the negotiations between the US and Iran will play out. Both sides spoke positively of the talks that occurred this past weekend, but the Trump administration has sent mixed signals since then and continues to increase sanctions on Iran.
Hawks in the US and Israel are pushing for a deal that would involve the full dismantlement of Iran’s civilian nuclear program, which is a non-starter for Tehran. Witkoff recently suggested the US would be happy with a deal to limit Iranian enrichment to 3.67%, but he appeared to walk that back the following day, saying any agreement must “eliminate nuclear enrichment” altogether.
Bunch of bumpkins playing student in government day.
Painfully embarrassing.
The Trump administrations decided on provoking, to provoke and provoke and provoke again Iran into giving them an excuse to start the war, which – annoyingly to both the US and Israel – the Iranians refuse to do. The Israeli don't want to bother with the optics at all, informed by the global shrug they experience when carrying out genocide on par with the Nazi Holocaust in full view of that world.
But chances are high the Trump administration will start this war no matter what Iran does or doesn't do, because Trump is losing on all fronts and diverting the attention away from his accumulated failures, lawlessness, incompetence and in your face corruption to give the Americans a nice war to wave their little flags at is becoming a very attractive prospect for him. The neocons in and around his adminstration are not going to pass on the opportunity.
The region is a powder cake, the people know it and don't want more war, the only people who do want war are the brain- and soulless Israeli and American Zionists.
He still belongs behind bars in the Hague for the Palestinian genocide, unlawful aggression against the Yemenis and associated war crimes.
And the f'er's barely been in office 3 months.
Exactly. Because his decision to defer an attack may have almost any other motive except the moral and right one. He either doesn't have the nerve for it, or he has been advised that he will lose popularity among his MAGA supporters, or he is weighing it against further monetary concessions from his gulf state lackeys, etc. Whatever it is, it isn't because he is against genocide, Euro-American-Israeli racism or corruption.
He is weighing Putins promise of catastrophic consequences with China's Xee knoding his head up & down!!!
For some reason I can't feel "good" about this. There is no reason for any attack being even in the planning stages let alone to the point that the Don has to call it off. And once more, just like in his first term, he's the one to put the US in position to make THAT necessary.
I feel inclined to agree, regrettably so…!
What's even less encouraging is that it was JD Vance (Vance Refrigeration) leading the diplomatic side. Our hopes for peace rest with idiots now ?
Boss Hoggseth on side too suggests at least he recognizes that an attack on the IRI will be a military nightmare for US troops and assets within range.
And the boss is impulsive and unpredictable and without any self-discipline.
You’ll like this: my friend calls him “Hogsbreath”.
Vance is no idiot, he's arguably more dangerous than Trump even, precisely because he's smarter and more cold headed, yet essentially the same thing.
I actually imagine that Trump will die (in more or less suspicious circumstances) while in office and that Vance will succeed him and become a for life dictator, one that will do nearly the same as Trump does but without all the unncessary and harmful hyperbole. I can totally see how the establishment can rally behind him these days.
good luck with that…!
Remember When people in charge of military plans DIDN'T say such things out loud ?
Ted Striker: "My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar."
Elaine Dickinson: "When will you be back?"
Ted Striker: "I can't tell you that. It's classified."
Most of Iran air defense is mobile…! They surface, fire and then back to underground…!
The aggressors would not know that, even if intelligence told them.
Didn’t you never see The Guns of Navarone (1961) ? All we need is Grrrrrregory Peckkkk (that’s my Gregory Peck voice).
The IRGC has basically told Trump to STFU and bring it on. As soon as they attempt to "bomb" Iran — which isn't clear that this is even possible for them to penetrate Iranian airspace given the failure of the last Israeli attempt last year — the combined forces of the Axis of Resistance will obliterate every single US base in West Asia, thus signaling the end of US hegemony in the region and eventually the rest of the world.
If Trump wants to be the last US president, the president known in history for destroying US hegemony and destroying the United States in its current form, he should absolutely go ahead and attack Iran. This POS needs to learn a very hard lesson. Unfortunately, it will be US servicemen and women who will be coming back in body bags, not the warmongers instigating this travesty.
Shame on every asshole calling themselves a "patriot" for supporting a neocon stooge like Trump. He is absolutely the most anti-American president this godforsaken country has ever had to deal with.
Don Genocide doesn't learn lessons. He just lies and makes assertions without evidence, blames others, diverts & distracts, gaslights, and takes zero accountability. If he ever has a plan in mind, it's a plan on how he can walk away from any financial or political disaster he makes.
I'm fairly sure he's America's last ELECTED President, if that's any consolation ? I entirely expect he'll stay in office until he dies of old age somewhere in the late 2030s, at which point his chosen successor will assume the Presidency and so it goes.
It's unfortunate that when the US begins bombing Iran despite Trump's professed reluctance, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume Russian missiles would strike Israeli and American targets as well as those from the Houthis and Iran.
As for the Axis of Resistance, they aren't playing head games with President Trump and Lindsay Graham.
No one can trust Trump, is he not the guy who broke the multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran? The Iranians know from experience he can't be trusted.
Russian missiles yes, but not fired by Russians. Supplied to the Islamic Republic of Iran "From Russia With Love" by Moscow, on 99-year leases for $1.
With satellite intel, 24/7 customer support on targeting and tactics; ammunition, fuel, and tanks ("you're welcome")*
*a second "Last Crusade" reference today, for those keeping track at home.
"Russian missiles yes, but not fired by Russians."–Uncle Sapien
That remains to be seen.
If Biden remained our president, he might invoke political correctness and demand that Russia not assist Iran with direct participation in offensive missile fusillades against Israel and the US.
It's doubtful Moscow recognizes those political correctness inclinations, as evidenced by missile and artillery strikes on NATO and US troops in Ukrainian President Zelensky's backyard.
We'll have to wait and see. Zelensky and Benjamin Netanyahu should become accustomed to viewing President Vladimir Putin consuming popcorn.
"political correctness" is (pardon pun) incorrectly applied to these examples.
"Political Correctness" (and its derivatives and mutations since loose inception circa 1990) is an Authoritarian Left social experiment to forcibly alter speech and thought patterns of domestic citizenry. It carries no weight or relevance in international political matters.
At least the split in this administration is encouraging. Another on this development:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/trump-dismissed-israeli-plans-attack-iran-favour-negotiations
For the moment,
It will depend on the last person speaking to Trump, he is impulsive and unpredictable. All bets are on the table.
Why the obsession with Iran? Iran has no borders with Israel and is not pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran stands in the way – so think the Israeli – of absolute Israeli regional dominance and clearing the path to the goal of a Greater Israel, incorporating land currently beloninging to Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The US neocons in concert with Netanyahu and the Israeli fascist faction that has now completely taken over the Israeli society had already decided on a war with Iran before the illegal, illegitimate and immoral 2003 second Iraq war.
Then US general Wesley Clark commented on that fact by disclosing a list, made up by neocons (in close cooperation with Netanyahu) of seven countries: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran who should all be destroyed within a timeframe of 5 years. That timeframe hasn't been met, but the policy hasn't changed.
Bottom line we have a gang of a criminal ruling intellectually and morally totally bankrupt power hungry, greedy elite. They are malicious people, disgusting.
1. Oil producer selling oil in currencies other than the US dollar.
2. Very important, heavily armed independent regional power which overshadows US satellites in the region and connects with the various Eurasian powers (China, Russia and India especially, all of which are friendly to Iran).
3. Crassus syndrome: "I want to be Alexander the Great" instead of be remembered only for having crucified Spartakus. Then drink molten gold at Carrhae…
The same is true for the USA, Iran never threatened the USA and is thousands of miles away on another continent, so why is the USA out to sanction and bomb Iran? There is no rational common sense to justify that, not to mention moral standards and simple human decency. What is wrong with Washington?
I think it comes down to the US really REALLY not wanting to give the IRI that last F-14 Tomcat it's owed under the deal made with the Shah's Iran.
That does make sense, business is business.
Azerbaijan is an intermediary between Iran and Russia. In that sense, Iran nearly borders Russia. So not only the expansion of Israeli imperialism, but a closer step at containing Russia:
One would think that Trumps plate is full with the tariff issues, the bombings, sanctions, home made issues of war and economics all around should be enough, but that would demand common sense intelligence which is missing.
If the plate is overflowing, people worry about the tablecloth, not who's overloading the plate.
“For now”…
Attacking Iran would be Trump's Rubicon for his administration and the U.S. If they are crazy enough to do that, then nothing is off the table and we could expect WW3 in short order.
Rubicon worked for Caesar, not the best example. It's rather Napoleon crossing the Vistula and marching to Moscow.
They trust their method of war, sooner or later bombing will take care of the problem.
Diplomacy is certainly preferred and further, it reminds us that diplomacy should be the preference to war!….Ah but let us not forget that Iran is not Palestine….. Ahem…..!…. …..
Nor it is Iraq – a detail that Gulf War fanbois seem to overlook.
But what if experienced diplomates are not available?
Those who still accept the "official narrative" that Israel "has a right to self-defense" while practicing genocide are hopeless morons! Israel encouraged/allowed/facilitated October 7 so it could be "justified" in doing what it has done and is doing: mass murder and land theft! Trump has/is losing a large amount of legitimacy by standing behind a war criminal POS in Nutty Yahoo!
"Trump has/is losing a large amount of legitimacy…"
The problem (or advantage ?) of dividing a really tiny number in half is that the answer is never Zero.
Moron is not the term: they are terrorist, nazis, war criminals. "Moron" implies that one is not guilty because he/she is just stupid, these people are all guilty of the new Holocaust, willing accomplices and psychopathic liars.
The status of Israel's occupation was settled with the ICJ's landmark 07.2024 ruling. Israel is illegally occupying Palestine, and thus has no right to "self-defense;" under international law a subjugated people have the right to "resist," even violently subject to international laws. There's no defense (Israel) to defense (Palestinians.)
All this tells you is:
1. Like the Roman empire in its decline, the chicken hawks think the US is stronger than it really is
2. The foreign policy issue undermining America is its "special" relationship with Israel.
3. A house divided can't negotiate a fair deal that is in the interest of America and its citizens.
4. In the past empires vied for supremacy in order to avoid being subjugated by the other. However, an unjust empire like America wants to destroy Iran not because its a threat but just because it can. (worst type of human beings)
5. If there is a Euro-American-Israeli war on Iran, all the parties would be weakened and those that are now weak will stand the most to benefit from a diminished Iran, Israel and American intervention in the ME.
That's not quite true…! Trump suspended US and Israel joint attack on Iran mainly on the internal staff division on the matter…!
He was not ready yet, that motivated him to put it off for now.