The Trump administration is pivoting away from diplomatic engagement with Iran and moving toward direct US military intervention targeting the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities alongside Israel as it continues Operation Rising Lion, according to a senior administration official who spoke with the US media.
"The movement right now is away from diplomacy and toward US involvement," the Trump administration official told POLITICO's Dasha Burns. "We are moving toward taking out Iranian nuclear facilities." The revelation marks what could become a defining moment of Trump's presidency, with global implications hanging in the balance.
POLITICO reported that any American intervention would likely involve US Air Force B-2 bombers conducting stealth operations to destroy Iran's largest nuclear installations, including the extensive underground complex at Fordo. According to the Associated Press, each B-2 bomber "would have to make the 30-hour round trip from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, refueling multiple times" – a logistical challenge that may explain the absence of immediate US action.
The White House maintains confidence that American involvement can be limited to precision strikes against designated targets without escalating into prolonged warfare. "No one in the West Wing is talking regime change," the administration official explained to Burns. "It's not regime change. It's taking out their nukes."
POLITICO's senior foreign affairs correspondent Nahal Toosi highlighted additional concerns regarding Iran's capacity for asymmetric responses. "It's important to remember Iran has ways of fighting back beyond weapons," Toosi noted in communications with POLITICO's Playbook. "A former Western intelligence official told me the spy community suspects the Islamist regime in Tehran has sleeper cells in various countries to carry out attacks if it feels an existential threat. The regime also could round up Americans in Iran and effectively hold them hostage – as it has done in the past."
