“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.”

      • CommieKhinkali@lemmygrad.ml
        181·
        2 days ago

        usa is going to intervene by bombing civilians and killing people who have nothing to do with anything, like they always do.

              • Wakmrow [he/him]@hexbear.net
                14·
                2 days ago

                It’s astonishing that you think, after the last 2-3 years of the Gazan genocide, that the US and Israel are going to target military sites only.

                  • Piperpiper1@lemmy.ml
                    121·
                    2 days ago

                    There’s no fucking way you’re this stupid, so drop the bait.

                    Engage in good faith, fuckhead. The country that is funding a genocide in Palestine, killed 1.5M Iraqis and almost 1M Afghanis and this is just recent history targets fucking civilians more than they do military targets.

                  • CommieKhinkali@lemmygrad.ml
                    11·
                    2 days ago

                    can you define the regime? israel has been claiming that the citizens and children they murder are part of hamas, the usa could easily say that the civilians they kill were the members of “the regime”. now why would they do that? idk you ask them why they killed millions of citizens of afghanistan and iraq and get back to me.

                  • Wakmrow [he/him]@hexbear.net
                    10·
                    2 days ago

                    Gestures to all of US history.

                    But real talk you can’t overthrow a government with planes. So they’ll target civilians as “part of the government” in order to try to start an uprising against Iran. It’s the same logic as sanctions.

              • CommieKhinkali@lemmygrad.ml
                9·
                2 days ago

                During the Iran–Israel war, by 28 June 2025, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA), a US-based organization, reported that Israeli strikes killed 1,190 people and wounded over 4,000.[1] The Iranian health ministry also stated that more than 4,000 people have been wounded.

                idk man it seems pretty bad to me and not concentrated. also why are you pretending that the us cares about iranians? you know whats gonna happen right? its gonna be another iraq and another afghanistan, the us will lose this like it did with almost every other country and it will make iranians lives worse. the us is the plague of the world. why doesnt the us attack north korea if they truly care about others? oh right because they have nukes, so if iran doesnt have nukes the us can just attack it, bomb it, destroy it, rape it, do anything it wants with it. you have fallen for the epstein class’s propaganda, idk what to tell you. also like usa has been sponsoring and arming israel since its foundation, why is that i wonder? what did joe biden say about that in 1986 and again in 2022?

                  • CommieKhinkali@lemmygrad.ml
                    5·
                    1 day ago

                    well, it was half military, half civilians, so 50% accuracy. ideal percentage would be 99% military. but hey even if they successfully do 99% military strikes and somehow change their government, i dont really agree with that as a whole, like why is a foreign nation that is located thousands of miles away, separated by a ocean, getting involved in someone else’s business? amerikkka has no business being in asia, europe, africa and oceania. if they do successfully remove this government and install a puppet, it will be worse for iranians like it was worse for chileans who got batista after allende, even if you criticize iranian government, which you should do, you should realise that even this is the usa’s fault, they overthrew a democratically elected president mossadegh in 1953. look if iranians in iran want a new government, then they should overthrow them and i will support that, but i wont support a country which is famous for its ill intent getting in that said revolution.

      • choui4@lemmy.zip
        102·
        2 days ago

        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?