“Art of the deal”

yes, given the risks and backlash, this seems like a "go all the way" plan

I didn't anticipate the last vestiges of Pax Americana to crumble this quickly. Trump 2 is akin to a Thanos snap

Even if the so-called Trump veto was issued, and the leak wasn't just another propaganda ploy to pressure Iran, it won't stop Israel from taking that step to try and achieve a game-changing result sooner rather than later. If and when the opportunity arises.

Trump doesn’t have a veto on what Israel decided to do

You don’t think Stephen Miller, er Trump cares do you?

I'm not surprised. If he can have (or hint) to have a former VP killed in his last term...

This sounds more like the Americans are genuinely worried this could happen...

What do you mean "vetoed"? Did the Israelis sign some convention I'm not aware of?

I highly suspect Netanyahu has ceded veto rights to No Deal Donny.

I doubt Trump actually vetoed a damn thing.

Yup. I don’t think that people are pricing in just how little regarded this American administration is.

At this stage I assume Netanyahu is just doing what they want and presenting it to Trump as a fait accompli - knowing that the Yanks have no choice but to go along with it now. All this stuff he's tweeting is to pretend he's in control when in reality he's a prisoner of events.

Well, if the dominant theme of Trump-2 is ‘a procession of underlings with their own pet agenda (consequences be damned) & he’s too checked out to push back’ then this would fit well with Netanyahu taking the lead in this area.

Also playing post hoc social media catchup is very on brand for Trump.

Yeah. And even if he's kept in the loop somewhat, the fact that he *looks* so flaky in a crisis situation does not engender confidence amongst other allies.

It’s an unserious administration as it has zero strategic consistency. Tariffs, deportations, DOGE - it’s all chaff & bluster with him being carried along, proclaiming himself to be a mastermind. Moreover any policy no matter how impactful can be reversed if you bring him a big enough bribe.

Yeah - there is no plan & no policy. It's all about *him* and his ever changing whims and rages.

A big problem the MAGA morons haven't figured out is that being the reliable and predictable leader of an alliance means you that can *restrain* allies and prevent escalation. That way you can prevent yourself being dragged into a crisis situation where you have little control over outcomes.

Presumably it’s also assumed that everything said to Trump will leak to Putin.

Absolutely.

Netanyahu won't get another chance at this. He'll go all the way IMO.

The problem is that Netanyahu's air campaign can degrade the nuke programme, Iranian leadership & military capacity. But that doesn't automatically mean the collapse of the regime. This looks to be more short-term Netanyahu self-preservation - buying time and hoping that something comes up.

If there are agents on the ground there’s a good chance the regime will have a harder time hiding, though. Not that that invalidates your point.

Sure - my only point is that you can only do so much with airpower and these sorts of attacks. Without a much larger ground operation or a large scale popular uprising within the country, the Iranian regime might be weakened... but could survive. But who knows.

Ah, definitely. Betting on the population of a whole other state than your own doing what you would prefer them to do is… let’s say “risky”. 👍

It's a big risk - you lose control over what might happen.

And his replacement will be far worse, younger, fresher, and more ambitious.