Iran’s Warning Shot Gives Trump a Way Out of Israel’s War
When U.S. bombers attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday, the Iranian government downplayed the damage. And Iran’s response was a piece of kayfabe. Iranian missile forces launched 14 missiles, the same number of bunker-buster bombs dropped on Iran, at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. base in the Middle East. The Iranian government reportedly warned Qatar beforehand to prevent any casualties.
This performative warning shot is a chance for the U.S. to duck out of the war. President Donald Trump claims that the Iranian nuclear program, the pretext for this war in the first place, has been “completely and fully obliterated.” Even though there are questions about the whereabouts of Iran’s enriched uranium, it would take a long time to rebuild the facilities to do anything with that uranium, buying time for a negotiated solution. And Iran seems far more eager to fight Israel, the country that attacked it in the first place, than to expand the war.
“Iran has officially responded to our Obliteration of their Nuclear Facilities with a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed, and hardly any damage was done. Most importantly, they’ve gotten it all out of their ‘system,’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE. I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured. Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same.”
But hawks have continued moving the goalposts through the war. After the Saturday air raids, the neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies began pointing out potential new underground Iranian facilities that need to be bombed. And Fox News host Mark Levin, reportedly an influential voice in Trump’s ear pushing for the attack, wrote today that it would be “disastrous” to give the Iranian government a “lifeline” after its retaliation. Trump himself flirted with regime change last night.
They seem to be in a rush to make total war a fait accompli without having to sell it to the public. When the Israeli-Iranian fighting began, only 16 percent of Americans and 23 percent of Republica
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