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Why the U.S. Strike on Iran Was Perfectly Timed

(Defense One) Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Charles Hamilton - For more than two decades, the U.S. has employed every tool short of direct military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Sanctions, sabotage, cyberattacks, and diplomatic negotiations all aimed to slow Tehran's march toward becoming a nuclear power. Four administrations - including Trump's own in 2019 - have contemplated striking Iran's nuclear facilities but ultimately pulled back due to the enormous risks. The bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites represents the culmination of the most rehearsed and studied war plan of the last twenty years. President Trump's swift shift from diplomacy to direct action appears to reflect a unique convergence of favorable conditions. The first is Israel's systematic and sequential degradation of Iran's network of proxy groups since Hamas's October 2023 attack. Israel's assault on Iran degraded its air defense network and penetrated and disrupted Iran's military communications. These effects enabled the U.S. strikes with unprecedentedly low risk to American forces and reduced the threat of effective retaliation. The U.S. military's "bunker-buster" bombs that pulverized Iran's Fordo facility were designed by the U.S. Air Force beginning in 2004 for exactly this mission. This marked their first combat use. If the attack is eventually found to have destroyed Fordo, it would validate two decades of military planning and technological development. The president was presented with this same strike plan in 2019 and deferred. It appears he waited until Israel set the theater this time around.
2025-06-26 00:00:00
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