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Donald Trump likely decided to attack Iran after yielding to pressure from US war-hawks, political and security analyst Ali Rizk told Sputnik.
Trump “increasingly adopted the Israeli line of thinking” and his insistence that Iran cannot be allowed to enrich uranium essentially torpedoed the US-Iranian talks.
With no tangible evidence or intelligence suggesting that Iran has been working on a nuclear weapon, the US attack hardly seems legitimate.
“But regardless, this is something we’re used to,” Rizk notes, with “US presidents pursuing or taking steps that are not in accordance with international legitimacy.”
Iran’s Retaliation—It’s on the Way
Iranian retaliation “has to be very smart, very calculated, but at the same time very painful,” Rizk says, arguing that Tehran would prefer to avoid dragging the US further into the Israel-Iran conflict.
Trump’s War on Iran May cost Him Presidency
The US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities was a gamble on Trump’s part, Professor Joe Siracusa, political scientist and dean of Global Futures at Curtin University, tells Sputnik.
By ordering the strike, Trump ignored “all the advice” from US intelligence agencies who insisted that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.
“If he gets away with it, if he brings it to an end, he’ll be heroic. If he doesn’t, then there’ll be the end of his presidency,” Siracusa warns.
US and Israel are in Cahoots
The academic argues that the US has been “deeply involved in Israeli military planning” for Israeli attacks that began last week.
“I don’t think the Israelis did anything without the American green light,” Siracusa says.
What Are Iran’s Options?
With its large missile arsenal, Iran could strike US military bases in the Middle East or even attack infrastructure of US allies in the Persian Gulf region.
Iranian forces could also “indirectly threaten Americans at embassies around the world” and even conduct cyberattacks against US interests.
