The Iranians didn’t need to be clever or foresighted about it, Trump made it obvious we were going to bomb them.
But there was also evidence, according to two Israeli officials with knowledge of the intelligence, that Iran had moved equipment and uranium from the site in recent days. And there was growing evidence that the Iranians, attuned to Mr. Trump’s repeated threats to take military action, had removed 400 kilograms, or roughly 880 pounds, of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity. That is just below the 90 percent that is usually used in nuclear weapons.
I do not think that works here. Maybe the initial decision was a bad one but, once made, it needs to be seen through to the end which, in this case, is the destruction of Fordo. They started it, they need to finish it. Iran will never thank the US for not quite finishing the job.
If the goal is to stop Iran from getting nukes, negotiations are off the table. Main force is the only other option, other than just accepting a nuclear Iran.
All missiles sent to Qatar were intercepted. This was entirely performative. They intentionally sent the exact same number of missiles as we dropped bombs and announced it in advance. This is not an escalation and saves face.
It was on Iranian state media. They also had on an IRGC commander who claimed that America entered the war “because they were every close to destroying Israel”.
All intended for internal consumption, of course - it was just pretty funny.