Trump Delays Iran Decision for 2 Weeks, Still Seeks Deal

June 20—The White House announced last night that President Donald Trump had delayed a final decision on whether he would order U.S. forces to join Israel in its war against Iran.

Sources close to the White House report that Trump, who doubts the ultimate effectiveness of using U.S.-delivered 15-ton bunker buster bombs on Iran's Fordow nuclear site—embedded 300 feet in a mountain near Qom—fears that effectively destroying that and other nuclear sites would require ground troops to mop up, troops he does not want to deploy. More importantly, these sources say, the President now fully believes that Israel's messianic Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, while claiming he launched the war to prevent an Iranian bomb, is in fact on a crusade to destroy Iran as a viable nation—something Trump does not support and wants to prevent.

Backchannel Diplomacy and a Race Against Time

Trump reportedly opted to delay his decision after hearing from his Special Envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, who has been furiously involved in backchannel negotiations with the Iranians to end their nuclear program and the war. These negotiations have also involved "interested" third parties, including Russia and China, who have been working behind the scenes to end the conflict. Sources report that Witkoff believes he can present Trump with a workable deal within that time frame. When Trump says he is tired of the endless talks—which have reached an impasse over uranium enrichment and sanctions relief—it means he wants to be presented with a deal that all parties can sign.

The Iranian Foreign Minister met with several of his European counterparts this morning, achieving little more than simply having a meeting. The Iranians later stated they will discuss nothing while under Israeli bombardment, though they expressed a desire to resume talks with the U.S., acknowledging that the Europeans can do little more than "pass gas in this," as one source put it.

Concerns Over Regime Change and Civil War

Trump has also expressed reservations about what are now clear efforts by the Israelis to seek regime change in Tehran, which would see the removal of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump leaked through sources to the media last night that he was concerned such a pursuit would produce "a Libya" in Iran—plunging the nation into ungovernable chaos and civil war, as happened when the U.S. helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in 2010, ultimately leading to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in 2012.

Sources say such statements from Trump indicate he is listening, so far, to the advice of saner advisors and not the religious fundamentalist fanatics—including elements in the State Department—who want the U.S. to come in full bore on the side of the Israelis, potentially creating a forever war in Iran.

A Path to Peace or a Descent into Chaos?

"Bibi would like nothing better than to turn Iran into a charnel house of warring factions that would kill millions of Iranians in bloody civil war," said a source with 50 years of expertise in the region. "There is no one, and no institutions, that can rise to the power of the Ayatollah and the mullahs on the scene there. You force these people out, killing many of them, and you have a religious war that also involves Israel. Trump has said, while he has little use for the Ayatollah and the regime, that he loves the 'great Iranian people.' He does not want civil war, and the way to prevent that is to force a negotiated end to the nuclear weapons program."

"It’s likely that, when this is done, Ali Khamenei is gone and the mullahs will choose a new Ayatollah—one with no connections to this disastrous war or the bloody war with Iraq in the 1980s," said the source, who added that Bibi had helped in this process by killing most of the remaining military leaders linked to the Iraq war. "The new leader will be more flexible and less dogmatic, in hopes of appealing to the huge young generation. But he will also keep the fatwa in place against the development or use of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons."

"Trump should not listen to the collection of neo-con fools that flutter around the White House and call for regime change," the source concluded. "There is no one in Iran who could hold the country together. Ironically, Trump—if he can get help from the Russians, return Iran to prosperity and cooperative development with its neighbors, and get it to end its support for what was shown to be its useless 'ring of fire' around Israel with proxy organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas—can wind up being the most important leader for the Iranian people. As Dean Martin used to sing, 'Ain’t that a kick in the head!'"

Both the Russians and the Chinese have refused Iranian requests to rearm them, Reuters reported yesterday, attributing their restraint to a desire to let Trump work out a deal.