Latest news with #JamesStavridis
New York Times
16 minutes ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Live Updates: Europe Pushes Diplomacy as Trump Delays Iran War Decision
News Analysis 'I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,'' Mr. Trump said in a statement on Thursday. President Trump's sudden announcement that he could take up to two weeks to decide whether to plunge the United States into the heart of the Israel-Iran conflict is being advertised by the White House as giving diplomacy one more chance to work. But it also opens a host of new military and covert options. Assuming he makes full use of it, Mr. Trump will now have time to determine whether six days of relentless bombing and killing by Israeli forces — which has taken out one of Iran's two biggest uranium enrichment centers, much of its missile fleet and its most senior officers and nuclear scientists — has changed minds in Tehran. The deal that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected earlier this month, which would have cut off Iran's main pathway to a bomb by eventually ending enrichment on Iranian soil, may look very different now that one of its largest nuclear centers has been badly damaged and the president is openly considering dropping the world's largest conventional weapon on the second. Or, it may simply harden the Iranians' resolve not to give in. It is also possible, some experts noted, that Mr. Trump's announcement on Thursday was an effort to deceive the Iranians and get them to let their guard down. 'That could be cover for a decision to strike, immediately,' James G. Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral and the former supreme U.S. commander in Europe, said on CNN. 'Maybe this is a very clever ruse to lull the Iranians into a sense of complacency.' Even if there is no deception involved, by offering one more off-ramp to the Iranians, Mr. Trump will also be bolstering his own military options. Two weeks allows time for a second American aircraft carrier to get into place, giving U.S. forces a better chance to counter the inevitable Iranian retaliation, with whatever part of their missile fleet is still usable. It would give Israel more time to destroy the air defenses around the Fordo enrichment site and other nuclear targets, mitigating the risks to U.S. forces if Mr. Trump ultimately decided to attack. And it frees Mr. Trump from operating on a battlefield schedule driven by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who has been pressing Mr. Trump to enter the fray, with weaponry Israel does not possess. In fact, within an hour of the White House release of Mr. Trump's statement that 'I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' Mr. Netanyahu signaled that he was likely to use the time to try his own attacks on the deeply buried Fordo nuclear plant. 'I established that we will achieve all of our objectives, all of their nuclear facilities,' he said. 'We have the power to do so.' Image Smoke north of Tehran after Israeli airstrikes on Monday. Credit... Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times In fact, American and foreign experts say, the Israelis have been preparing military and covert options for years, examining how they might interrupt the massive electrical supply systems that keep the centrifuges buried in an enrichment hall under a mountain. Even the introduction of a surge or a pulse in that electrical flow could destabilize and destroy the delicate machines as they spin at supersonic speeds, like a top spinning out of control. In recent days, the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that Israel's destruction of the electric plant above another enrichment center, at Natanz, probably critically damaged the thousands of centrifuges spinning below. The Israelis have considered what it would take to bomb and seal the tunnel entrances into the facility, trapping workers inside and making it all the more difficult to bring near-bomb-grade fuel into the plant for a final boost that would make it usable in a weapon. That fuel itself, stored in the ancient capital of Isfahan, would also be a target for the Israelis, American officials say. But the first question is whether the Iranians have the political flexibility to seize on the time period Mr. Trump has opened up. Administration officials say Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, has already been in touch in recent days with Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, with whom he has been talking since early April. 'I think the question is, can the Iranians see this as an opportunity to avoid the significant challenges that would come from the destruction of their last remaining facility?' asked Laura Holgate, who served as American ambassador to the I.A.E.A. during the Biden administration. But she said that 'direct surrender is probably not on the table for them,' or 'total abandonment of enrichment capacity either, even now.' Robert Litwak, a research professor at George Washington University who has written extensively on diplomacy with Iran, said, 'Here is the diplomatic needle both sides need to thread: The U.S. accepts that Iran has a right to enrich uranium, and Iran accepts that it must completely dismantle its nuclear program.' The conflict between Israel and Iran has consumed the president's week, as he returned early from the Group of 7 meeting in Canada to deal with the war. He spent the early part of the week posting a series of bellicose threats on social media, seeming to lay the groundwork for the United States to join Israel's bombing campaign. He urged all the residents of Tehran, a city of roughly 10 million people, to evacuate, said the United States had 'complete and total control of the skies over Iran,' and said American officials knew where Iran's leader was hiding but would not kill him — 'at least not for now.' Many of the president's allies believed that the United States' entrance into the war was imminent. But on Wednesday, the president said he had not made a final decision about whether to bomb Iran, and he berated Iran for not agreeing to a new deal to limit its nuclear program. Still, he said it was not too late for a diplomatic solution. 'Nothing's too late,' he said. Mr. Trump's public flirtation with entering the war has sharply divided his base — so much so that Vice President JD Vance wrote a lengthy social media post on Tuesday seeking to downplay concerns that the president was abandoning his commitment to keep America out of overseas conflict. 'I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people's goals,' Mr. Vance wrote. But some of the president's most prominent allies, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia, Tucker Carlson and Stephen K. Bannon have criticized the prospect of the United States getting involved in another country's war. 'Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,' Ms. Greene posted on social media. On the other end of the spectrum, many of Mr. Trump's hawkish allies in the Senate, including the Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, are urging the president to take a more aggressive posture toward Iran. 'Be all in, President Trump, in helping Israel eliminate the nuclear threat,' Mr. Graham said this week on Fox News. 'If we need to provide bombs to Israel, provide bombs. If we need to fly planes with Israel, do joint operations.' Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.
New York Times
9 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Buys Himself Time, and Opens Up Some New Options
President Trump's sudden announcement that he could take up to two weeks to decide whether to plunge the United States into the heart of the Israel-Iran conflict is being advertised by the White House as giving diplomacy one more chance to work. But it also opens a host of new military and covert options. Assuming he makes full use of it, Mr. Trump will now have time to determine whether six days of relentless bombing and killing by Israeli forces — which has taken out one of Iran's two biggest uranium enrichment centers, much of its missile fleet and its most senior officers and nuclear scientists — has changed minds in Tehran. The deal that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected earlier this month, which would have cut off Iran's main pathway to a bomb by eventually ending enrichment on Iranian soil, may look very different now that one of its largest nuclear centers has been badly damaged and the president is openly considering dropping the world's largest conventional weapon on the second. Or, it may simply harden the Iranians' resolve not to give in. It is also possible, some experts noted, that Mr. Trump's announcement on Thursday was an effort to deceive the Iranians and get them to let their guard down. 'That could be cover for a decision to strike, immediately,' said James G. Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral and the former supreme U.S. commander in Europe, said on CNN. 'Maybe this is a very clever ruse to lull the Iranians into a sense of complacency.' Even if there is no deception involved, by offering one more off-ramp to the Iranians, Mr. Trump will also be bolstering his own military options. Two weeks allows time for a second American aircraft carrier to get into place, giving U.S. forces a better chance to counter the inevitable Iranian retaliation, with whatever part of their missile fleet is still usable. It would give Israel more time to destroy the air defenses around the Fordo enrichment site and other nuclear targets, mitigating the risks to U.S. forces if Mr. Trump ultimately decided to attack. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Hill
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Ex-NATO commander sees 2 in 3 chance Trump strikes Iran
Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis on Thursday said he sees a two in three chance that President Trump strikes Iran. 'I think it's a close call for the president,' Stavridis told CNN's Pamela Brown on 'The Situation Room,' in an interview highlighted by Mediaite. 'At this point, Pamela, I would say there's a two in three chance he will go ahead and strike.' 'I think there's a one in three chance he'll give it a bit more time and see how diplomacy plays out. You can make a case on either side of that decision,' he added. President Trump and his administration have mulled the possibility of stepping into the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, which kicked off a week ago. The president has hinted multiple times in the last week at possible U.S. participation. The president is expected to come to a conclusion on whether to go ahead with direct action against Iran within two weeks, the president said Thursday in a message given by a spokesperson. 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiation that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go in the next two weeks,' Trump said in a statement, which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read aloud. Thursday polling from The Washington Post found that nearly half of Americans, 45 percent, said they would not back U.S. intervention in Iran. The two Middle Eastern have traded tit-for-tar strikes for several days, which also prompted nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. to collapse. The administration began talks with Iran in April, holding five rounds of negotiations throughout the spring. This conflict also broke out amid already heightened tensions in the region over Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, which started in late 2023.
CNN
12 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
‘2 in 3 chance' Trump will strike Iranian nuclear facility, says Fmr. NATO Commander
Admiral James Stavridis, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, joined the Situation Room to discuss the potential for US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
CNN
12 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
‘2 in 3 chance' Trump will strike Iranian nuclear facility, says Fmr. NATO Commander
Admiral James Stavridis, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, joined the Situation Room to discuss the potential for US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
