Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain
Feb 18, 2026

A former senior U.S. intelligence official who is an informal advisor to the Trump administration on Middle East policy told Drop Site that, based on his discussions with current officials, he assesses an 80-90% likelihood of U.S. strikes within weeks.

Iran realizes that it is facing an unprecedented threat from the U.S. if a deal that conforms with Trump’s terms is not reached, former Pentagon official Jasmine El-Gamal told Drop Site. “This is not a dress rehearsal,” she said. “This is it. This is not the negotiations of last year or the year before or the year before that. They’re backed into a corner. There’s no off ramp.”

    • couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 hour ago

      Hoping for people to die is a bit of a key difference though

      And not picking those that support ICE in your wonderful example tells us even more

      • KimBongUn420@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        49 minutes ago

        Unlike you, I recognize that civilian deaths are inevitable when another country attacks another country with a shit pretext. And not only did I say the pretext to attack the US is it having ice concentration camps, it is more just than your US manufactured pretext to attack Iran). Fuck off dipshit

        • couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          40 minutes ago

          You should add more swearing, it really adds to how serious you are about hoping to see me die

          If you think ICE is worse I believe you don’t have a clue about the situation in Iran though