Trump may attack Iran despite previous statements criticising 'invasion of Middle East' & starting 'World War III'

United States President Donald Trump is contemplating whether to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, reportedly saying that he will leave the decision to the last moment due to the fluid situation in the Middle East.

Final second

Bloomberg reported that senior U.S. officials have told the news organisation that the U.S. is “preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran” to take place in the “coming days”.

Bloomberg said that this is a sign that the U.S. is assembling the capabilities it would need to carry out such a strike.

Still, it also indicated that a final decision had yet to be made and that the situation was “evolving and could change”.

Trump appears to be undecided over whether to conduct the strike, have vacillated over the past few days between threatening Iran and trying to encourage them to take part in negotiations.

However, Trump has been relatively clear about wanting Iran to be stripped of its nuclear weapons capability, whether voluntarily or not.

Bloomberg added that Trump told reporters on Jun. 18 that he has “ideas as to what to do” but would only make “the final decision one second before it’s due” as the events in the Middle East were “fluid.”

He also reportedly said earlier, “I may do it. I may not do it.”

Why get involved?

Since Jun. 13, Israel has been attacking targets in Iran, apparently aimed at destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities.

But Iran has previously anticipated the possibility of such an attack, and as a result, some of its most critical nuclear facilities have been built into underground bunkers in a facility known as Fordow, also called Fordo.

The Fordow facility is a nuclear fuel enrichment site, a critical process in preparing uranium for use in nuclear weapons, but it can also be used to prepare nuclear fuel for civilian purposes.

According to the BBC, the facility is thought to be buried more than 80 meters under a mountain, and Israel lacks the equipment to penetrate that far underground.

This is why U.S. involvement is considered critical, as it possesses a 13,000kg bomb known as a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, meant to be able to penetrate up to 60 meters.

Just as important, it operates the only aircraft that is capable of carrying the weapon, the B-2 Spirit bomber.

For this reason, it would be impossible for the U.S. to just hand over the weapon to Israel, as they would have no ability to deploy it.

The New Yorker Magazine quotes security researcher Justin Bronk as noting that it would likely take multiple direct hits to destroy the facility, although it is probably accurate enough to do so.

But should the U.S. decide to attempt the attack, it is unlikely to be troubled by Iran’s air defences, as Israel appears to have successfully neutralised them and is conducting airstrikes with impunity over Iran.

Why not?

However, while Trump appears in favour of ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions, not all his supporters feel the same way.

A poll by The Economist and YouGov shows that a majority of Trump voters, 53 per cent, are opposed to the U.S. getting involved in the Iran-Israel conflict.

However, this is significantly less than the 71 per cent opposition by people who voted for his opponent, Kamala Harris.

The poll shows nearly 19 per cent of Trump voters support involvement, compared to 10 per cent of Harris supporters.

But that indecision extends to prominent supporters of Trump as well, with far-right commentator Steve Bannon saying “We can’t do this again” and that “We can’t have another Iraq”.

Bannon represents the more isolationist aspects of the modern Republican party, and perhaps he will face no more virulent critique than that of noted isolationist and anti-war politician, 2016’s Donald Trump.

Worst decision ever

Trump, in the campaign for his first term in 2016, was highly critical of the multiple wars that the U.S. had entered in the early 2000s, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, calling them “stupid, endless wars”.

In 2019, he also described the decision to go to war in the Middle East as “THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE”.

And during his 2024 presidential campaign against Kamala Harris, he warned voters that voting for Harris and her "warmonger cabinet" would result in Harris starting World War III and killing "millions of Muslims".

Perhaps it’ll go better for his 2025 incarnation.

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Top image via White House/Facebook