Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain
Feb 18, 2026
A former senior U.S. intelligence official who is an informal advisor to the Trump administration on Middle East policy told Drop Site that, based on his discussions with current officials, he assesses an 80-90% likelihood of U.S. strikes within weeks.
Iran realizes that it is facing an unprecedented threat from the U.S. if a deal that conforms with Trump’s terms is not reached, former Pentagon official Jasmine El-Gamal told Drop Site. “This is not a dress rehearsal,” she said. “This is it. This is not the negotiations of last year or the year before or the year before that. They’re backed into a corner. There’s no off ramp.”
Trump is finally about to become presidential.
So just clarify, Russia, which we were all promised would drop a nuke on Ukraine, still hasn’t (and won’t, let’s be real; this is Russia, not America), while America is most likely about to conduct their second (third if you count Hiroshima and Nagasaki as separate incidents) nuclear attack?
And you just know the news is gonna whitewash this
I don’t think even Yanks are dumb enough to use nukes over this, what would be the point?
The point would be to let the world know just how unhinged the Burger Reich is and that they’re willing to end humanity if they don’t get what they want.
Nobody is planning a nuclear attack. Name your sources or stop spreading fear and disinformation.
Trump will unleash a whole new level of hell upon this world. Just to feed his ego.
The moment Iran sinks an aircraft carrier, Donald will respond with nukes. Assuming that the madman doesn’t start with a nuke.
there is a 0% chance Iran has the capability to sink a carrier.
I really hope not, but if he does, it will be spectacular self-own as it’s bound to turn the whole middle-east against USA due to the literal fallout.
Is the likelihood of an invasion based on something Iran is doing? Or is it dependent on how horrifying the next Epstein file drop will be? I mean…I know the fucking answer to this already. Doesn’t make it any less infuriating. This piece of shit will start World War III, all to distract everyone from the fact that he raped children. “No new wars.”
What a dogshit liberal take, it’s primarily about keeping America the top dog through imperialism. Not saying the Epstein controversy has nothing all to do with this but Trump would still be doing similar warmongering even if the files had not been so damning to him and his circle.
It is about controlling the straight of hormuz for the usa and to crush any resistance to the greater israel plan for Israel
Its never been about anything Iran is doing. They have never had a nuclear weapons program.
Can you explain why they were mass producing weapons-grade uranium?
Not that I support this action, but Don’t they have an enrichment facility with centrifuges?
Just the fact that USA is comfortable attacking them means they don’t have nukes.
They want nuclear energy, not weapons (though it’s pretty stupid for them, nukes are the only thing stopping US monster)
They have nuclear power plants that require enriched uranium.
If Iran wanted a nuclear bomb, instead of spending months trying to enrich Uranium beyond what’s required for power and medicine, they could simply chemically separate plutonium out from spent fuel.
A uranium bomb is easier to develop and mass producing enriched uranium with existing centrifuges is as well.
The reports from the IAEA clearly showed Iran had put their centrifuges in a cascade to make as much weapons grade uranium from mid 2024 to the attacks last summer.
I wouldn’t take a Lemmy comment as evidence either way.
It’s over resources since forever.
I really hate how prophetic the movie Wag the Dog was.
Easy to be prophetic, when you are just describing what is already happening.
yeah I saw almost no coverage on this today. the zone is flooded, and boy is it shit.
Don lemon though, they covered it extensively.
Sadly both sides are eager to attack Iran 😭 😭 😭.
Reminder Schumer started taco trump because Trump was hinting he may be soft on Iran not for anything he does to the America
Schumer will only be mad that Trump didn’t fill out the right paperwork, but will fullthroated support the policy.
I know this is naive but is there ZERO international efforts to stop this blatant terrorism?
Russia and China have been sending military aid to Iran. China has also cut the US off from rare earths supplies which is affecting American military production. Clearly that hasn’t been a sufficient deterrent though.
And there’s really nothing that can be done in terms of international law because the US simply ignores it.
Obviously neither Russia nor China want to have a direct military confrontation with the US either. That would be WW3, and likely lead to a nuclear holocaust.
So, it seems like a war on Iran is unavoidable at this point.
Sadly, it’s just Bibi and Donnie with their, ahem, questionable motives, who seem willing to intervene there
Europe outsourced their militarism to the US for 40-60 years.
Who would stop this? As in, who has the forces to do so?
Ugh, its so true. But like, what about the UN ( i know, i know). What about congress? (Again). Where is anything?
But like, what about the UN ( i know, i know).
Well, I mean, do you? You’re asking about a body created by and hosted in the US and funded also largely by the US. It’s toothless and useless because nobody has ever done anything substantial to legitimize it except the US and now that the US has decided that unilateral fascism is the easy path, what exactly does anyone expect?
It’s like a microcosm of the sum of Europe’s problems rn, tbh.
I dunno what planet you’ve been on, but the international efforts for the last few major wars have been very little but finger wagging.
I totally know that but like … notning? Really? UN? NATO? WEF? Anybody?
Europe is will be joining the US, not confronting them lmao. Really the only way to fight the american global military dictatorship is for the global south to militarize and unite against them but we are decades removed from that.
Like we just saw Narco rubio giving a hitlerian speech in germany and European leaders all clapped.
It used to be the USSR but that era is long gone and the US filled the void.
Not even China wants to go down that route.
Iran also failed to properly maintain and upgrade their military since the end of the war with Iraq. They have an internal political issue which is why they have the IRGC, which is a completely separate entity from the national military.
It was in the supreme leader’s interest to keep the main military weak to ensure he couldn’t be couped, but now that has left them extremely exposed.
