According to most information flowing from the region, a second wave attack from Israel us underway (or just completed). The first wave targeting was the Iranian military leadership and nuclear scientists, the second wave hitting the nuclear installations.
We could tell from the initial targeting, the IDF were not targeting hardened installations, they were targeting people who run them where they live in the middle of the night. This appears to be confirmed by ground reporting of residences being the target with highly strategic Mossad agents on the ground doing major intelligence activity to identify the targets. It appears Israel was very successful (but still really early).
That approach also establishes the baseline for internal Iranian political opposition to push for regime change.
The second wave of Israeli targeting then goes directly at the nuclear installations. This approach also makes sense. First round takes out the brain power, second round takes out their hardened facilities (much more difficult to eliminate).
As the operation proceeds, we now turn focus to the U.S. interests, and this is where we use hindsight to last Sunday’s Camp David meeting.
Secretary of State / National Security Advisor Marco Rubio emphasizes Israel is acting “unilaterally,” without USA support. President Trump proactively and strategically emphasizes his preferred approach of “diplomacy.”
Some will doubt, but I would draw your attention to Trump’s relay of the call with Vladimir Putin last week. Obviously, President Trump understood Israel was on the cusp of taking some ‘unilateral’ action, albeit with a likelihood of a head’s-up to USA of approximate timing (Sunday Camp David as a proactive ‘get us prepped’ agenda).
The scenario begins to become self-evident when you consider that President Trump redirected 20,000 patriot defense missiles from Ukraine to Israel, much to the chagrin and anger of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as expressed June 9th. Which also takes us into the conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Under this scenario, Camp David on Sunday would likely be a coordination meeting between President Trump, Secretary/NSA Marco Rubio and top military officials where the topic was getting our interests prepared and shifted as the administration knew this week something was going to happen with Iran. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the U.S. moves personnel and non-essentials into a more secure and stable environment. Friday, Boom.
Back to Putin.
[This is a first-rate analysis, well-worth reading. Posted in full with Sundance’s permission. ABN]
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