The U.S. celebrated its strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a great success but that has been hard to corroborate.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that the three sites were hit and “assessed that there has been extensive damage” at the sites but this was “based on an analysis of the information available to it,” not imagery or visits.
The IAEA did say that it was in contact with the Iranian regulatory authorities and was informed that there is no nuclear fallout – a critical detail.
This suggests one of two things:
- There was no weapons-grade material present;
- The U.S. deliberately avoided striking actual nuclear material.
If either is true, then this wasn’t a strategic dismantling of a nuclear weapons program. It was a symbolic strike, carefully designed to send a message — but to whom?
Political scientist Gilbert Doctorow says that the strikes were “political theater.” He says it doesn’t matter what was demolished.
“By saying that he has essentially deprived Benjamin Netanyahu of all justification to continue the war against Iran and spared the United States any obligation to otherwise intervene in the conflict. Meanwhile, the longer Netanyahu continues attacks on Iran, the more devastating the Iranian counter-strikes are becoming, to the point where critical Israeli infrastructure is being degraded and the viability of the economy is being put into question. The question now is what will come first: the utter destruction of Israel or the removal of Netanyahu from office and his incarceration.”
Could this have been President Trump’s game all along?
Iran has condemned the attack obviously. Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi called the attack a “grave violation of the UN Charter” that “will have everlasting consequences.” He declared that “Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting and UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attacks as “a dangerous escalation.”
The Iranian U.N. representative said that the U.S. has “destroyed diplomacy” and “sacrificed its safety to save Netanyahu.”
Following these accusations, President Trump called for regime change in Iran.
That’s a jarring turn — especially in light of his own speech just last month in Saudi Arabia, where he said this:
“In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built. And the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves. Peace, prosperity, and progress ultimately came NOT from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly.”
What happened to that sentiment?
