If so, it’s a bit odd in this specific case, considering how much Republicans hate Islam and how much support Israel is still getting over Gaza.
But that’s probably leaving breaking news territory.
I can’t think how this would turn out well for the US if Trump does this:
President Donald Trump is growing increasingly warm to using US military assets to strike Iranian nuclear facilities and souring on the idea of a diplomatic solution to end Tehran’s escalating conflict with Israel, two officials familiar with the ongoing discussions told CNN.
The new, more hawkish posture represents a significant shift in Trump’s thinking, though the sources said Trump remains open to a diplomatic solution — if Iran makes significant concessions.
No cite but I heard that Trump is now demanding an “unconditional surrender”. Is this true? If so, I bet he heard that term as it relates to WWII and likes the sound of it. Makes him sound tough and all.
All I know is that it will be hilarious when and if his big deal with Iran is, effectively, just the JCPOA again.
And, given that there’s little more you could ever realistically ask for than a promise to not do the bad, and to give spot inspection rights to the USA, that’s almost certainly the end outcome.
It seems it is true.
Trump in a subsequent post made clear what he does want from Iran: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
The Trump administration has insisted that the U.S. is not directly involved in what Israel called a preemptive strike against Iran on Friday, which kicked off five days of missile fire between the two regional powers.
But Trump’s latest comments suggest the U.S. is now at least willing to threaten direct military intervention as it backs Israel’s effort to bring Tehran to heel.
What Trump almost certainly does not consider is that will never happen without the almost complete destruction of Iran first (which would also necessitate US soldiers in the country to make it happen).
Germany didn’t do it till they were completely smashed and overrun.
Japan didn’t do it even after being completely smashed and having two atomic bombs dropped on them (and even then a portion of the military tried a coup to keep going to the bitter end).
I can’t imagine Iran being any different.
It’s simple: Trump sees someone else getting to look tough, and he’s jealous.
Plus, he’s been president’n for almost 4.5 years and hasn’t really been able to use his toys yet. The Big Beautiful Parede probably just whetted his appetite.
Thanks very much for an informative post, @chappachula - there’s a lot there that I didn’t know about the Arab population of Israel and the difficulties of enforcing bomb shelter codes.
From this CNN article on estimating Iran’s missile stockpile:
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, as Israel launched its air campaign, that Iran had sped up its manufacture of ballistic missiles to 300 a month…”
Is that a realistic figure? I would have thought building a missile would be rather complicated and take a few days at least. Plus, the factory needed to construct it must be pretty large. The comings and goings of materials would make identification of it as a military target easier, too?
Can we take much from how quickly the number of missiles Iran fires reduces over the next day or two? Good prospects for an end to the conflict if Iran quickly runs out of its main way to harm Israel.
He is?
I mean, “Maggie May” is a great song and all, but… Anyway, “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” was sung by Rod Argent.
Maybe it does take two days to make a missile. But if they have 20 parallel lines running, they could still finish 10 per day.
From what I’m hearing, the limiting factor isn’t the missiles themselves, but the launchers, which Israel has been quite aggressively targeting.
Second smaller group of tankers leaving the US. Based on their call sign, altitude, and other aircraft (F-16, F-22, F-35) aloft; operation is dragging the fighters to Europe/ME to augment existing aircraft.
Naval actions:
Eastern Med:
USS The Sullivans DDG-68
USS Arleigh Burke DDG-51
USS Thomas Hudner DDG-116
Red Sea:
USS Forrest Sherman DDG-98
USS Truxtun DDG-103
Arabian Sea (Carl Vinson CSG):
USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 ----
USS Princeton CG-59
USS Wayne E. Meyer DDG-108
USS Sterett DDG-104
USS Milius DDG-69
East Indian Ocean (still two or three days out):
USS Nimitz CVN-68 -----
USS Curtis Wilbur DDG-54
USS Gridley DDG-101
USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee DDG-123
That is a LOT of firepower and force projection.
Trump has displayed utter incomprehension about atomic weapons.
He does not seem to grasp the risks & consequences of their use.
Could his warning to evacuate Tehran mean… 
I don’t have military expertise and don’t pretend to, but Scott Ritter was saying on the Judge Napolitano podcast this supposed super bunker buster bomb that we have doesn’t go deep enough to destroy the place where they enrich the uranium.
Before I get the incoming, yes, I’m aware of Ritter’s reputation (and Napolitano’s for that matter). I don’t regularly watch, but I was browsing various YT channels and that came up and I watched to satisfy my own curiosity
I would think that is probably true. Iran knows what weapons can be used against it and almost certainly built their place to be resistant to such an attack.
What I wonder is if they can dig a hole, so to speak, with such bombs? Drop one and make a big crater. Then drop a second some minutes later into that crater. Rinse and repeat till you get deep enough to actually damage the facility.
I have no idea if that is possible. Just wondering.
Or, just bury it. Blow away the surface access points and tunnels that lead to the underground facility. Maybe the facility is still there but if no one can get in or out it is as good as gone.
Well this is not a pleasant thought this evening. All of that military equipment shuffling into place looks ominous.
Nothing I can do about it but I hope this is not the start of something worse than it already is.
I mean, you probably don’t need to reach those depths to make the facility inaccessible, so there’s that.
Ritter was suggesting we’d consider using tactical nukes, and I just can’t see us going that far, particularly given the resistance Trump is facing already in MAGA world. But for another thing, it would just greenlight Russia to use tactical nukes in Ukraine and really wherever the hell else they fell like dropping them – Baltic NATO maybe?
Recall that even WWII levels of bombing failed to fully shut down military production in nations subjected to it.
WaPo (or NYT, I dunno) said the plan for using MOP would be sending several of them down the same hole since they’re precision guided.
What I don’t get is why the B-2 bombers are needed. Like, why Israel can’t just drop them out of the back of a cargo plane. They’re heavy at 30,000 lbs, but that isn’t heavy to a cargo plane. Maybe it’s about not getting shot down.