🧵Reporter: Mr. President, what's your reaction to the intelligence reports saying that the Iranian nuclear sites were only partially devastated, not entirely?
Trump: Well, …the report said it could have been very, they don't know.
Trump: I mean, if they did a report, I could have Pete [Hegseth] talk to it, because his department did the report. They really don't know.
I think Israel is going to be telling us very soon, because Bibi is going to have people involved in that whole situation.
Trump: We hear it was obliteration. It was a virtual obliteration.
When you take a look at the ground above, don't forget, the flame is all underground.
🧵Former State Dept official Dan Benaim: It seems like a moment for humility…. But it strikes me that there's so much more that we don't know than what we do know, including the very basics of the battlefield damage assessment.
Benaim: “It seems to me that despite some triumphalism, there's no once and for all solution here to the Iranian nuclear program, and we shouldn't expect one off airstrikes to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat.”
Benaim: “One thing that I should say when it comes to regional integration, and the prospects for the region… in talking about perceptions of Israel,…is Gaza.
🧵Ken Pollack: First point, we don't know what the American strike accomplished. we've heard the initial briefings.
I did look at the satellite photographs of Fordo. There are a couple of holes, & it's clear that the surface Earth has shifted.
But I find it very difficult to tell what the extent of the damage that was done to Fordo,
And quite frankly, I am going to be surprised if the US intelligence community has a really good read on what happened to Fordo.
“On Thur., Trump responded as he often has when faced with difficult options: He bought himself time, declaring he would wait up to 2 weeks to make a decision. So far, those cautioning the president to avoid authorizing a strike ..appear to be breaking through.”
“On Thur., Trump had lunch with Steve Bannon” who opened his show that day “by decrying the faux ‘urgency’ that pro-Israel hawks were pressing upon Trump.”
Bannon & Jack Posobiec likened those speaking to Trump advocating for a US attack on Iran to used car salesmen who tell buyers they only have limited time to decide.
“Shortly after Trump’s lunch with Bannon”, press sec Karoline Leavitt told WH press briefing she had a statement said ‘directly from the president.’ The message was that Trump was going to let negotiations play out longer.”
Frmr Centcom chief ret. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie sees mission creep in Israel war: I do believe that regime changes is on the table in Tel Aviv, & I think that represents a thing we should be very familiar with in the United States: mission creep
where you have astonishing initial success, and so your goals tend to expand as the horizon opens ahead of you.
So I think perhaps when they went into this, they were looking at a more narrowly targeted campaign, but the bringing the inability to defend themselves and the success the Israelis have had opens new vistas for you.
Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar: But it is worth noting that the Wall Street Journal relies on Israeli sources who sometimes, or in most cases, feed it with requests to promote some move. In most cases, this is Netanyahu's office.