Donald Trump 'was warned striking Iran would embolden regime' ahead of Operation Epic Fury
The US President was given “very sobering briefings” on this assessment before giving the go ahead.
Donald Trump was given “very sober briefings” warning the Iranian regime would strengthen its hold on the country if the US attacked, sources say.
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The US president was warned the government in Tehran would be weakened but would become more hardline in the face of a new supreme leader and a strengthened Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) acting as partners following strikes on the country.
He was given “very sobering briefings” on this assessment before giving the go ahead, intelligence sources told The New York Post.
“It wasn’t just predictable… It was predicted. He was told in advance,” one source said.
Mojtaba Khamenei replaced his father as supreme leader after he was killed in US strikes early on in the conflict. US-Israeli strikes have also killed dozens of senior IRGC commanders and top officials.
However, M Trump’s Operation Epic Fury has not led to regime change.
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One European official predicted that a “rump IRGC regime” will rule Tehran after the war, which will keep hold of some nuclear and missile capability and the support of its regional proxies.
However, the regime will be “degraded enough that we’re in a better place than we were,” the official told the newspaper.
Trump administration officials also reportedly told allies the conflict would be over quickly.
“We don’t have a plan for a long war. We need to finish it as soon as possible,” an official told the Post.
The conflict has now entered its third week and shows signs of slowing, with Iranian bombs raining down on countries across the Gulf from the UAE to Qatar while the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked.
Meanwhile, US-Israeli attacks have not slowed, with Israeli strikes hitting Lebanon and Tehran on Tuesday morning.
Overnight, the US President said he was “not happy” with Britain as allies including the UK mulled how to respond to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a key global shipping route for oil and gas.
Mr Trump has asked partners — including France, China, Japan, South Korea and Britain — to help secure the strait, and claimed the US was talking to “about seven” countries but would not say which ones.
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the UK will not be drawn into a “wider war,” and said he was working with partners including in Europe on a “viable collective plan” to free up navigation in the strategic sea passage.
Britain could potentially provide mine-hunting drones to the mission rather than a warship, although the Prime Minister insisted no final decisions had been made.