Several Western observers are moving away from Trump's claim that the American attack on Iran was a huge success. The Iranians told the world that the damage was limited, but now the IAEA came out with a statement that there were no increased radiation levels, while it is whispered that Iran evacuated both the enriched uranium and centrifuges to safe locations before the attack. Those locations could be in Iran at an undisclosed location, or Russia, or China. But the ability to produce nukes is said to be unaltered. With more reasons to produce them than before the attack. Thank you, Real Donald Trump!
Pay attention to the fact that the 2009 script, 'Which way to Persia', which is followed closely, assumes retaliation on American targets, which would serve as the desired excuse to widen the war, and drag the US in all the way. For the moment that did not happen, but the Trump administration said it received a warning that existing 'sleeper cells' in the US, for which Trump blamed Biden and his 'wide-open-border' policy, would now be activated. I have no doubt whatsoever that Iran has such 'sleepers' in the country, and with fairly low-grade, even improvised weapons they could create lots of damage, including to American nuclear power plants and its associated industry. Or these 'sleepers' won't be activated (just yet), but the US and/or Israel will set up a 'False Flag' operation to provide the US with an excuse to go to war full force.
For now Iran seems to be set on closing the Strait of Hormuz to traffic considered hostile, only allowing friendly vessels to use the narrow waterway. If they do, Europe, considered complicit by Iran, thus hostile, will be hit hardest, if they can make it stick. In addition Iran will continue to pummel Israel, taking that tiny country to the cleaners. Earlier today the Dutch State-Broadcaster had a 'Teletext' message up which said a huge Iranian attack was hitting Israel, but it was removed in no time at all. The narrative the belligerents want to uphold is that it is all a one-way street, with Israel firing at Iran, while Israel is doing fine. This could last forever since Iran is said to have thousands of missiles (up to twentythousand), which have the capability to reach Israel, while 'informed sources' say they are able to produce around three-hundred new ones every month. That 'Iron Dome' is clearly unable to stop the most advanced missiles they are able to field. Tellingly, I came across a cartoon which portrayed the US in the form of Trump-the-Bully, asking Iran, a smaller guy with a 'funny hat', to hit him, but in that cartoon the small guy responded that he wouldn't, since he was satisfied with destroying Israel instead. Keeping the damage secret will not be easy around the time Tel Aviv and Haifa are effectively in ruins.
Therefore, taken together, Trump announcing that this bombing campaign was a 'one-off', as long as Iran refrains from retaliating against Trump's 'Beautiful, All-Mighty' military, could be the next lie, with an even shorter retention-date than those of the past few weeks. Both the US and Israel have no problem with 'False Flag' operations, but the world will be watching. It may not be all that easy to convince the public these days. Large groups in the West who abhor Trump and Netanyahu are now getting company from MAGA-dissidents, who feel betrayed by Trump, with good reason. And the world outside the Western Hemisphere stopped trusting anyone seen as promoting NATO-talking points a long, long time ago.
Trump is now far ahead of the individual who insisted that this war with Russia would not have happened on his watch. In fact, his common bluster and self-congratulation took off and propelled him into the stratosphere, as he stepped on the constitution as if it didn't exist. War veteran Daniel Davis warned that this was no small thing. Previously presidents lied and spun to at least pretend they adhered to the provisions, but Trump made the Neocons pushing him blush. Recently I suggested, as a last option for him to turn the ship-of-state around, that he might have been taken for a ride by his underlings, and the only way to recover from that was to step out in front of them to regain his executive power, so he could hit the brakes. He didn't, and unless he warned the Iranians that they had to remove all their stuff before he sent those bombers, because those *really* in charge left him no choice, that fantasy has gone up in smoke.
Tulsi Gabbard, outspoken critic of war with Iran during her campaign when she was running with Robert Kennedy by her side, is in such a position, where she is being pushed to sign off on things she rejects as foolish and dangerous. Thus she was sidelined, and made to sign-off on Trump's bombing campaign in a very public, humiliating fashion. But was that really *ever* a position Trump found himself in recently? Yes, Lindsey Graham and his Democrat side-kick Blumenthal were seen dragging the president behind them, kicking and screaming, and commentators started to call Lindsey Graham the 'Foreign Policy President'. And we all remember, don't we, how Trump was kept busy while his Neocon-staff undercut him every step of the way during his first term. I understand the problem, since I've been in similar positions myself. Do you jump ship, or do you stay to act in the best interest of the company, while the management is selling out? All these people on the sidelines will tell you that you need to save your own squeaky clean reputation, and thus you need to say farewell, and go your own way. No longer your responsibility. But it is not as easy as that. What about the company? All these people working there? Their entire livelihood on the ropes.
My mistrust for the 'system' is thus, that I had no trouble imagining that Trump found himself at risk of becoming a passenger in his own administration yet again, which was why I cut him some slack to surprise us, against the odds. But where he told his followers that with Kamala the US would be at war in six months flat after she had been inaugurated as president, who could have thought that Trump managed to get there in five? Perhaps he honestly thought that his unpredictable 'judo-moves' and tariffs would astonish everybody, with the world falling in line to serve him, and when that didn't happen, he grabbed the 'Which way to Persia' lifebuoy thrown at him? And now they 'own' him? Or was he always 'their man' even as he was presenting himself to the voters as someone else entirely. Like Zelensky. Treating all of it as a joke. A 'Performance' in which you can excel. 'Heath Ledger' eat your heart out!
If the Iranians outsmarted Trump and Netanyahu (and those in charge of their 'moves'), while Ukraine is going down the drain, and China directing the orchestra in the background, we are at a very tricky crossroad. Both the US and Israel are nuclear armed powers, and what if they decide to try their luck with those, now that the 'Bunker-Busters' failed to bring them the head of Khamenei? Who is going to stop them?