WWW.FOXNEWS.COM
Blinken shreds Trumps Iran strikes, though he hopes they inflicted maximum damage
Former Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned President Donald Trumps strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on Tuesday, though he held out some hope theyd have their intended effect."The strike on three of Irans nuclear facilities by the United States was unwise and unnecessary. Now that its done, I very much hope it succeeded," he wrote in a New York Times guest essay.U.S. military B-2 stealth bomber aircraft dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on three nuclear facilities on Saturday in an attack Trump called "a spectacular military success."PROMINENT TRUMP CRITICS LAUD PRESIDENT'S DECISION TO STRIKE IRAN NUCLEAR SITESThe president announced on Truth Social on Monday that both Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire following the U.S. strikes, although a frustrated Trump lashed out at both countries on Tuesday morning for continued hostilities. The administration has since pushed back against media reports that the attacks did not obliterate Iran's nuclear capabilities but instead were only a temporary setback.Blinken not only trashed Trumps strikes on Iran but criticized the presidents entire strategy in dealing with the country, which started with him tearing up former President Barack Obamas Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and culminated in Saturdays strikes."In 2018, President Trump tore up the agreement and replaced it with nothing. In response, Iran accelerated its enrichment, quite likely reducing its breakout time to a matter of days or weeks. Mr. Trump, in essence, is now trying to put out a fire on which he poured gasoline," Blinken said.Blinken also argued Trump jumped the gun when there was still time for diplomacy with the Iranian regime.TOP DEMOCRATS, MEDIA DECLARE US AT WAR AFTER IRAN STRIKES AS WHITE HOUSE PUSHES BACK ON NARRATIVE"As of now and there are conflicting messages coming from within the Trump administration our intelligence agencies believe Iran has not yet made a decision to weaponize. If and when it does, it would take Tehran 18 to 24 months to produce an explosive device, according to some estimates," he said. "In other words, there was still time for diplomacy to work, and the situation wasnt nearly the emergency that Mr. Trump portrayed it to be."He added, "Experts Ive spoken to had real doubts about the ability of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or M.O.P. the 30,000-pound bombs unique to Americas arsenal that were dropped on Irans nuclear sites to fully incapacitate the Fordo site and other deeply buried or fortified components of Irans nuclear program."Trump ripped media critics on Tuesday that he accused of casting doubt on the effectiveness of his strikes. Singling out CNN, he said, "But when I see CNN, all night long, they're trying to say, Well, maybe it wasn't really as demolished as we thought.' It was demolished. You take a look at the pinpricks, and you see that place is gone. And I will say, I think CNN ought to apologize to the pilots of the B-2s."CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTUREBlinken did admit he hoped Trumps attack was successful."I wish that he had played out the diplomatic hand we left him," Blinken wrote. "Now that the military die has been cast, I can only hope that we inflicted maximum damage damage that gives the president the leverage he needs to finally deliver the deal he has so far failed to achieve."The White House did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
0 Comentários 0 Compartilhamentos 15 Visualizações 0 Anterior
AtoZ Buzz! Take Control of the narrative https://atozbuzz.com