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.”
Every American who called Russians orcs better be getting ready to fully embrace that label.
what’s new after iraq?
The American invaders versus the Persian defenders. A full scale bombardment.
They just need to channel the power of ahura mazda and send in the Immortal regiment.
The ongoing deployment includes the stationing of dozens of aircraft including F‑15 strike fighters, F‑35 stealth fighters, Boeing EA‑18G Growler electronic‑warfare aircraft, and A‑10C ground‑attack aircraft at a military airbase in Jordan—despite the Jordanian government’s recent insistence that its territory would not be used as a base to attack Iran.
Frankly, the Iranian military should have done something about the US vassals first. Idk what, I’m not a general. An attack? Economic pressure? But like seriously, something gotta be done about these collaborating mfs because without them, the US is severely restrained in their fighting strength against Iran.
It’s not even a matter of belligerence, since the zionists are already the aggressors.
Iran is such a beautiful country. I’ve watched people motorcycle and bicycle through it on YouTube and the people are so kind and warm. It’s really upsetting the way America wields it’s might.
pizza index is really quiet right now, but the AFB i live by is tense. my money says next week.
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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?
Trump is desperate to be remebered in history as ANYTHING besides the chikd rapist he is. See also why he has been demolishing DC to build shitty Trump monuments. Dropping a Nuke would put him in the books too.
Nobody is planning a nuclear attack. Name your sources or stop spreading fear and disinformation.
I don’t have a link for it, but so far the only source for the nuke rumors I’ve seen is a 4chan post claiming that Israel is going to use tac nukes to disable missile bases and possibly get a leadership bunker in Tehran. The post is worded to suggest that the poster is someone inside some aspect of the operation or military buildup which I suppose is getting people to take it more seriously, but it’s an anonymous source on 4chan, so not something credible.
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.
Just to feed his ego.
It’s actually to secure the hegemony of US empire and monopoly capital
I agree.
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.
The whole middle east is already against the US because we keep empiring there, except Israel ofc
there is a 0% chance Iran has the capability to sink a carrier.
They’ve got a lot of hypersonics that the fleet has no response to
‘hypersonics’ is the ‘ai’ of the defense industry.
I think you are wrong. Iran has a large suite of ballistic missiles. Unless the carriers stay out of the max range of those arms, a carrier will be sunk.
No, Iran lacks the capability of hitting moving targets at that distance. You need real time data for that kind of operation that basically nobody except the US (globally) and maybe China Russia France and GB (locally) have.
During the retaliatory strikes against Israel they missed targets the size of military bases hat long range.
Iran is one of about 3 or 4 countries on earth that is both capable and motivated to sink a US carrier. They have one of the most powerful missile forces on earth and will be in the defensive position.
I know this is naive but is there ZERO international efforts to stop this blatant terrorism?
Eh, it’s Iran. Most of the world hates them, so good luck gathering support.
Most of the world hates them
Just most of the white world
Sadly, it’s just Bibi and Donnie with their, ahem, questionable motives, who seem willing to intervene there
Willing? Do you mean: doing all the harm?
Do you think the Iranian regime murdering all opposition is causing no harm?
usa is going to intervene by bombing civilians and killing people who have nothing to do with anything, like they always do.
Last time they concentrated on military sites. What makes you think they’re going to bomb civilians?
do you want me to post wikileaks pictures here?
Well if you’re really claiming that their attacks were concentrated on civilians instead of military targets last year, hard proof to back that up is welcome.
Im not advocating for that regime. Thats a separate issue.
However, the usa abd pissrael goaded Iran into a much more severe reaction. Do you remember when pissrael said they had agents inciting insurrection amongst the protesters?
They ‘goaded them’? They started torturing and killing all opposition the very day they took power. Didn’t need any help for that
Again, this is not me advocating for the regime. However, as an anti-imperiliast, I can hope that the people of Iran make changes to their government on their own, without 2000 lb palestinian child murder bombs from the usa
Do you think they have a chance without outside help?
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.
But surely there are economic sanctions or SOME even milqtoast consequences that can get ball rolling
Im aware how reckless the un is but those sorts of rebukes on the international stage DO make a difference
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.
I think americans need to step up first, tbh.
Narco rubio
Was it bad? Should I go watch it?
Everyone should watch it.
It is an open statement that neocolonialism is over (through finance), and a call to arms to Europe that old colonialism is back on the menu (through guns). And as usual, european leaders give a standing ovation.
No fucking way… let me go watch this shit
Get ready for a disgusting amount of white supemacism and whitewashing of crimes against humanity.
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.
Didnt know that. Makes sense. Do you think he could rally a defense force?
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.”
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.
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.
idk if they had or have nuclear weapons, but honestly they should get them asap. north korea hasnt been invaded only because they have nukes.
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.
Reuters
Yeah, and Iraq is totally producing weapons of mass destruction
You can find the reports yourself on the IAEA site
Sorry you got duped about Iraq. Did you get your news from Reuters?
“Heh, no u” you empire simps are pathetic
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.
