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.”
This is laughable. You should listen to citations needed, they just did an episode about this idiotic “logic”. No, bombing a country to pieces is not fucking helping the people living there.
What makes you think they’ll ‘bomb Iran to pieces’? Last time they just concentrated on military and enrichment plants. What motivation do you think they have to bomb civilians?
Last time they killed hundreds of civilians.
Well sadly, it’s hard to take them out without any civilian casualties.
The way I see it Iran is around 5 million people suppressing the other 85.
Sorry to put it so blunt but even if takes 5 million innocents to free the other 80 (and their future)… it’s worth it.
“they’ll greet us as liberators”
I can remember what happened to Iraq and Afghanistan?
Did they bomb either of those countries to pieces? I must have missed that.
Or do you mean ground invasions? Do you believe Trump is secretly planning an invasion and are you equating that to ‘bomb to pieces’?