Roving Periscope: Trump 2.0 may launch pre-emptive strikes to ‘de-nuke’ Iran
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: US President-elect Donald Trump, whom Time Magazine has selected as the Person of the Year 2024,” is weighing options, including “pre-emptive strikes,” to stop Iran from going nuclear, the media reported on Friday.
The report came when Israel is also said to be drawing up plans for a potential attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, amid growing concern that the Islamic Republic, poised to build a bomb, could rush to finally do so, The Times of Israel said.
After more than a year of relentless war against Israel, which began when the Hamas terror group from Gaza invaded the Jewish state on October 7, 2023, Iran and its proxies like Hamas and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah have weakened.
According to reports, Trump has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent calls that he wants to avoid an Iranian breakout of war during his second and last term in office, beginning next month, although he wanted to stop the Islamic Republic from going nuclear. If Tehran does so, it might trigger a new war, especially one in which US troops would become involved.
So, the Trump 2.0 administration is currently working on a “maximum pressure 2.0” plan, recreating the policy of aggressive sanctions on Iran that Trump pursued during his first term (2017-21), and pulled out of the Obama-era agreement with the Shia country to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the US could use military pressure to deter Tehran from going nuclear.
For instance, Washington could send more forces, ships, and warplanes to the Middle East region and also bolster Israel’s offensive capabilities through the sale of bunker-busting bombs. If that fails, however, the US could threaten to use direct military force.
In an interview with Time Magazine, published on Thursday, Trump said of a potential war with Iran, “Anything can happen. It’s a very volatile situation.”
He had reportedly considered preventative strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites during the latter part of his first term but decided against it. This time, however, according to the media report, his administration may be open to supporting an Israeli strike against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
Among the reasons Trump may be more open to military action this time cited in the report were Iran’s alleged efforts to kill him (Trump) during his presidential election campaign this year.
Israeli military officials were quoted as saying on Thursday that there is now an opportunity to strike at Iran’s nuclear sites. After last week’s collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, a close Iranian ally, they are preparing for a potential attack against Tehran.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) believes that Iran — which it sees as isolated after the fall of the Assad regime and the weakening of its main proxy terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon —may rush ahead with its nuclear ambitions and develop a bomb.
Iran has denied seeking nuclear weapons and said both its space program and nuclear activities are for purely civilian and peaceful purposes. However, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA said Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003 and continued to develop its nuclear program beyond civilian necessity. Israel contends that the Islamic Republic never truly abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
After the ongoing Gaza conflict broke out in October 2023, Iran has twice fired missiles at Israel, which has vowed to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. In retaliation, Israel crippled Iranian air defenses.
Meanwhile, Israel is also trying to fuel civil unrest and an anti-Ayatollah movement in Iran. On Thursday, Netanyahu, in a video directed at the Iranians, told them their theocratic regime is “terrified of you, the people of Iran. And one day, I know that, one day this will change. One day Iran will be free.” It was his third such video in recent months.
