Donald Trump He seems to have planned the color of the White House curtains better than his offensive against Iran. This Monday, during his first appearance since the conflict began, the president of the United States went, in a matter of minutes, from talking about war to commenting on his decorative choice for the East Wing: “I chose those curtains in my first term. I have always liked gold.”
What followed his speech reflected the cascade of contradictions that both Trump and his main collaborators have shown since Saturday morning, when they launched the operation in close coordination with Israeli forces. epic fury. A military campaign that, in the first 24 hours, ended with the death of the Iranian supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Jameneiand whose continuity remains, to say the least, uncertain.
Trump specified that the White House’s initial plan was to prolong the offensive for “four or five weeks,” although he assured at the same time that he had “the ability to go much further.” “We have the strongest and most powerful armed forces in the world, by far, and we will easily prevail. We are already substantially ahead of our time forecasts,” he boasted. “But whatever the weather is, it’s fine. Whatever it takes.”
Interviewed by The New York Postthe US president did not want to rule out the possibility of deploying troops in Iran, if necessary to achieve his military objectives. “I have no qualms about sending troops on the ground,” he said. “Every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say that. I say, ‘We probably won’t need them,’ or ‘if they were needed.'”
In his subsequent statement from the East Wing, Trump contradicted his own intelligence agencies by asserting that “this was our last, best opportunity to strike… and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime.”
He also stated that the negotiations broke down due to Iran’s refusal to renounce its military and financial support to its related militias in the region, the Axis of Resistance, a mosaic of armed groups that make up Hezbollah, Hamas or the Houthis of Yemen.
The justifications offered by Trump have been equally varied: from destroying the Iranian nuclear program – whose infrastructure, in theory, had already been eliminated in the Twelve Day War last June – to causing a regime change, protecting Iranians protesting in the streets or, simply, taking revenge on a “terrorist regime” that has spilled “American blood.”
For the retired general and former commander of the United States Army in Europe, Ben Hodgeswhat is clear is that “nothing is clear” and that, he maintains, “makes it difficult for the military to plan their actions or for allies to understand.”
Beyond the uncertainty, Hodges explains to this newspaper, that can be a problem when calculating ammunition. “Although this is classified information, there are reports that there is a real concern that there is not enough ammunition” for a long campaign.
The interventions of the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsethand the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, And Razin Canenor did they shed clarity on the Trump Administration’s plans for Iran. “It will not be an endless war. This is not Iraq,” said the Pentagon chief. “This will not be solved overnight” and “more American casualties are expected,” the general maintained. At the moment, the Central Command counts six soldiers killed in the framework of the operation.
In his speech on Monday, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubioreproduced the same words as Hegseth and General Cane, but added a nuance to take into account, and that is that, at this moment, “The United States is not prepared to deploy ground forces in Iran.” Rubio clarified, in any case, that Trump has that trump card at his disposal, although he made it clear that “the set objective can be achieved without ground forces.”
The big question is knowing to what extent Trump’s plans coincide or not with Trump’s own agenda. Benjamin Netanyahu. It was the Israeli prime minister who began hostilities last Saturday by launching a “preventive” attack against Israel.
The Likud leader speaks clearly of overthrowing the theocratic regime, of forcing the fall of the Islamic Republic. It was their planes that bombed Khamenei’s residence. Trump, on the other hand, threatened until this Monday with the possibility of negotiating with the elements of the regime willing to do so.
In fact, from Rubio’s latest statements it appears that it was Netantayu who pushed the US to start the war in Iran. According to the Secretary of State, Washington knew that Israel was preparing to attack Iran and that Tehran was going to respond with bombings against US bases in the Middle East.
“The president (Trump) made a very wise decision: we knew that there would be Israeli action, that this would precipitate an attack on American forces, and that if we did not preemptively pursue them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer more casualties,” he said.
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