“In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it,” Trump has said. Iran remains defiant in the face of ultimatums, pledging unprecedented retaliation to any attack.

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.”

  • dizzle18@lemmy.zip
    437·
    7 months ago

    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.”

    • mrdown@lemmy.worldBanned
      46·
      7 months ago

      It is about controlling the straight of hormuz for the usa and to crush any resistance to the greater israel plan for Israel

    • ExistentialNightmare@lemmygrad.ml
      181·
      7 months ago

      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.

    • CommieKhinkali@lemmygrad.ml
      8·
      7 months ago

      lets be real here, americans dont give a shit about epstein files. the info of the epstein class has been revealed that they eat and rape children and traffic them globally. i get that, if that is something theyre willing to release/leak, what theyre not showing the public must be at least 10x worse, but the americans basically havent done shit since finding out that almost every conspiracy is real lol. i think this is just a contention of usa to have full control over the world. i mean i dont know what to tell you when the opposition party is for going to war with iran, dems and reps align 99% on foreign policy. i just hope that iran wins this and survives to see another day.