Iran vows to retaliate after US stealth bombers swiftly eradicated three nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend. According to President Donald Trump, the damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is said to be “monumental”.
Under the codename “Operation midnight hammer”, the US struck three of Iran’s principal nuclear facilities called Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, Natanz Nuclear Facility and Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre.
Precision strikes to lead to peace?
Trump emphasised this was a “limited strike” with no intention of deploying US ground troops, calling it “necessary”, “precise” and hopefully leading to peace.
Signalling a potential Iranian reprisal that could drag the US into a new conflict in the Middle East, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told France’s Emmanuel Macron: “The Americans must receive a response to their aggression.” This statement came almost a day after US strikes targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites. [theguardian.com]
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is expected to fly to Moscow on Monday 23 June to meet Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, for consultations. An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Akbar Velayati, said any country used by the US to strike Iran “will be a legitimate target for our armed forces,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
No Iranian civilian deaths have yet been reported as of Monday.
On Truth Social, Trump responded in all caps: “Any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight…”
Right-wingers question Trump
In the podcast sphere of discussion, centre-right voices like Russell Brand, Paul Joseph Watson and Tucker Carlson have expressed concern about Trump’s militant intervention.
Brand looked at Carlson in discussion with Steve Bannon, a media executive and former White House Chief Strategist, in which the question was asked whether regime change in Iran is the ideal, calculated goal.
“Let’s have a rational conversation about what our aims are, here. Tell me how [a regime change war] plays out in a country of 90 million people. Have we thought this out?” Tucker remarked.
Brand, on the other hand, asked whether Trump is betraying the anti-war promise or whether a mask is simply slipping.
Across the pond, Watson expressed concern about another potential wave of mass immigration to Europe.
“They’ve been saying ‘Iran is weeks away’ from building a nuke for about 30 years… I have not lost a lot of sleep thinking about Iran building a nuke… I do lose a lot of sleep over the fact that Middle Eastern regime change – literally every time – leads to utter chaos, mass casualty terror attacks in the West and huge waves of migrants pouring into the West,” said Watson.
