US Politics
Trump’s top general desperately trying to warn against war with Iran: Report
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One of President Donald Trump’s top generals has warned the commander-in-chief not to launch air strikes against Iran, according to reports.
The president has repeatedly threatened military action against Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime over concerns about the country’s nuclear enrichment capabilities.
However, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has reportedly said that the massive amount of resources needed to go to war with Iran could leave the U.S. Military greatly depleted.
Sources told Axios that Caine, who was a proponent of the United States’ capture of the now deposed Venezuelan Dictator Nicholas Maduro, believes that the stakes are too high when it comes to the Middle East nation.
One source described him as a “reluctant warrior,” stating that Caine was not advocating for strikes on Iran but would support any decisions that Trump makes.
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Trump, though, told followers on Truth Social that Caine believes a war with Iran could be “easily won.”
“General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won,” he wrote.
In his post, the president also described an article by The Washington Post as “100% incorrect.”
The newspaper had reported that Caine expressed concerns about the United States’ munitions stockpile being depleted by the country’s support for Israel and Ukraine’s defense.
Caine also expressed concern in separate meetings about the scale of a potential war with Iran, with the general warning that the campaign could be made more difficult by a lack of allied support, The Post reported.
Caine is the only military leader advising Trump on the attack, according to Axios, although a Joint Staff spokesperson refused to give the publication any details about the exact details of the pair’s discussions.
“In his role as military advisor to the President, Secretary of War, and National Security Council, the Chairman provides a range of military options, as well as secondary considerations and associated impacts and risks, to the civilian leaders who make America’s security decisions,” Joint Staff spokesperson Joe Holstead told Axios. “The Chairman provides these options confidentially.”
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Officials told The Wall Street Journal that the president has yet to make up his mind on sending U.S. troops to topple Khamenei’s regime. However, those same officials said that Caine’s advice is highly likely to influence his decision-making.
Amid rising tensions with Iran, the U.S. has established the largest amount of airpower in the Middle East since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. An aircraft-carrier strike group has arrived in the region, with a second carrier stationed in the Mediterranean Sea.
A former defense official told The Washington Post that knocking out Iran’s missile program would require strikes against hundreds of targets across the country.
Many launch sites are mobile and use transportation networks to move around Iran, which is three times the size of Iraq.
Unseating Ayatollah Khamenei would expand the range of targets to thousands of sites, locking the United States into a campaign that could possibly last for months, according to the official.
Trump and Iran’s government have been mired in a bitter deadlock over nuclear deal talks, with Steve Witkoff telling reporters that the United States hoped to ensure that the Middle Eastern country abandons any potential plan to enrich nuclear material.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS News that his country was not prepared to make such a deal.
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Now, both countries are barrelling towards last-ditch efforts to come to an agreement ahead of a meeting between the nations in Geneva on Thursday.
Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will represent the U.S. in the discussions.
Iran’s government is also in a precarious position, following waves of protests across the country in December and January.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says that at least 7,000 people were killed in the subsequent crackdown against the protests.
A fresh wave of anti-government protests broke out on Saturday, with students holding demonstrations at a slew of Iranian universities.
The BBC has verified that at least eight universities in Tehran hosted protests over the weekend, with further demonstrations taking place in Mashhad and Isfahan.
Some students were seen burning the flag of the Islamic Republic, while others brandished the nation’s former flag, which was used before the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Chants of “Death to the Ayatollah” were also heard.
