{"id":498384,"date":"2026-03-02T00:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/498384\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T00:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:28:15","slug":"unable-to-finish-the-job-on-his-own-trump-takes-a-gamble-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/498384\/","title":{"rendered":"Unable to finish the job on his own, Trump takes a gamble in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Briefing reporters on Saturday, a senior administration official tried<\/a> to make the case that US President Donald Trump had \u201cno choice\u201d but to authorize Operation Epic Fury against Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat from Iran\u2026 in the short term is\u2026 the conventional missile capability,\u201d he said of the decision to launch a military campaign against the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had indicators that they intended to use it potentially, preemptively\u2026 if not simultaneous [to] any actions against them,\u201d the senior US official said.<\/p>\n

Intelligence that Iran was about to strike could well have justified the US acting first, but the official\u2019s own indecisiveness on the matter was difficult to ignore.<\/p>\n

It harked back to Trump\u2019s State of the Union speech<\/a> days earlier, when the president appeared to give another justification for what then was only a theoretical strike on Iran.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter [Operation] Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program\u2026 Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA smoke plume rises over Abu Dhabi from the site of an Iranian missile strike on February 28, 2026 (AFP)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference between Iran rebuilding its nuclear program and merely wanting to do so, but Trump said both of those things.<\/p>\n

Then, in his address<\/a> to the nation moments after authorizing the strike, Trump phrased the justification a third way: \u201cThey attempted to rebuild their nuclear program\u201d \u2014 not necessarily rebuilding the program, but trying to do so.<\/p>\n

Those assertions were part of prepared remarks by the president in which he could be seen looking at the teleprompter \u2014 not off-the-cuff claims that could have been dismissed more easily.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of his Saturday speech, Trump indicated there was an additional motivation for striking Iran that went beyond intelligence of a potential preemptive missile strike or the potential rebuilding of its nuclear program.<\/p>\n

Appearing to push for regime change, Trump called on Iranians to \u201ctake over\u201d their government.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPeople watch as smoke rises on the horizon after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was an acknowledgement that, as much as the US could try to lay the groundwork for the regime to fall, it wouldn\u2019t be able to finish the job on its own.<\/p>\n

So Trump is betting on the Iranian people with Operation Epic Fury.<\/p>\n

It could well be worth the gamble, given the weak and exposed state of the Islamic Republic after last year\u2019s 12-day war and its latest brutal crackdown on Iranian civilians.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s still a gamble.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump announces US strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. (Screen capture\/Truth Social)<\/p>\n

He faces a regime that prepared for this very scenario, including by putting contingency plans in place for who would make decisions in the event that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Saturday hours after Khamenei\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The regime knows that Trump wants Operation Epic Fury to wrap up quickly after having campaigned against getting the US become entrenched in Mideast conflicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into,\u201d Trump said to applause from his supporters in his inauguration speech just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s no longer personally campaigning, so that may explain his willingness to seemingly abandon that mantra in favor of addressing what he said in his Saturday speech was the \u201cimminent\u201d threat posed by Iran.<\/p>\n

But his party may pay if fresh polling<\/a>, indicating that just one in four Americans backs the US strikes on Iran, still holds come the November midterms.<\/p>\n


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