Trump Ignored Warnings Before Launching War With Iran

Jonathan Ernst / Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Donald Trump ignored several intelligence warnings about the potentially disastrous consequences of launching a war against Iran, according to a report.

Details of an Oval Office meeting in February, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, reveal that the president sought advice on whether an all-out attack to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program and force regime change could work.

During the meeting, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Trump that a Middle East conflict would see Iran close the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping route, cause oil and energy chaos across the world, and that killing Iran’s supreme leader would result in a replacement who would push harder for Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.

Trump had also received similar warnings from top military leaders that a war on Iran would result in multiple deaths and a severe dwindling of U.S. munition stockpiles .

Despite this, Trump joined Israel in launching an attack on Iran on Feb.

28, with each of the predictions surrounding the conflict coming true.

Trump started the deeply unpopular war believing that it could be resolved in a matter of weeks.

Instead, the conflict has dragged on for nearly six months with no real end in sight.

“This was all predictable and predicted,” Eric Brewer, a deputy vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, told the Journal.

“You can draw a straight line from the fact that the war was launched without any clear political objective to the mishandled diplomacy in trying to end it.” Trump was reportedly buoyed at the very start of the conflict after one of its main objectives was achieved.

During a Feb.

28 fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff informed the president that Israel had killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Trump wanted Ratcliffe and Witkoff to share the news with those at the fundraiser, prompting a round of applause.

The 80-year-old president is then said to have “crossed his arms and puffed out his chest” while soaking in the praise, sources told the Journal.