According to what is circulating, one of the most talked about military scenarios foresees the landing of a special unit near the Fordow plant to control the area and guarantee the success of a ground intervention. “Gathering accurate information is as important as destroying the plant itself,” is the conclusion.
Donald Trump sees “significant opportunities for negotiations” with Iran, which could happen “in the near future”, stepping on the brakes on the engine of American foreign policy. “We will decide whether to act within two weeks”, was the message of the American president and given to journalists by Caroline Leavitt during a press conference. This braking does not mean that military options are being abandoned. And it is even more evident if there is greater clarity on the movements of the president, who gathered the national security team in the Situation Room, and who will intensify the consultations of the intelligence services in the coming hours.
Washington wants negotiations with Iran and reiterates that the objective is to see the Islamic Republic not only without nuclear weapons, but also without the capacity to enrich uranium with centrifuges, such as those located at the Natanz and Fordow plants.
The fact that Ali Khamenei’s regime has been weakened by a week of Israeli attacks, according to the US, makes the offer of negotiations more reasonable – as a lifeline for a regime that has suffered severe blows at the highest levels of the military and in its nuclear program (losing nine scientists). “Negotiations are necessary and possible because of this fragility,” Leavitt explains. But the president’s spokeswoman was not clear on what would happen if Iran refused any involvement – and based on Khamenei’s statements on Wednesday, it appears that the Iranian line has not changed.
Envoy Steve Witkoff has yet to establish formal contacts with diplomats in Tehran. Yesterday, the Trump adviser participated in a bilateral meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and British counterpart David Lammy, who is meeting with German and French representatives in Geneva today to try to rebuild contacts with Tehran, represented by Foreign Minister Aragchi.
Witkoff will not be there, but his ideas (and those of the president) will be represented by Lammy. Rubio, meanwhile, held a telephone conversation with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. The Italian Foreign Ministry (Farnesina) confirmed the meeting in a press release. The US has said bluntly: “We are ready for direct negotiations with Iranian representatives,” shortly before Caroline Leavitt publicly announced Trump’s move. Donald Trump is therefore moving the deadline, but he is not taking the military card off the table. Without a deal, the consequences will be serious, Leavitt explained, emphasizing that the new deadline is clear and that the one Trump has set for Iran is the second deadline: after the end of the first 60-day deadline, the countdown for another 60 days has now begun – and if there is no clear response from Iran to the American offer, the attacks will begin.
This is, in fact, the warning that Washington has delivered to Tehran, while a senior American official confirms that all options are still on the table.
Military movements in the Region confirm this: the US will have two large military carriers available in the Middle East. Some troops have already been moved from the base in Qatar (Al Udeid), and units in Bahrain have cordoned off the area due to security concerns.
The US embassy in Jerusalem has activated a plan to evacuate US citizens who want to leave. United Airlines and American Airlines have suspended flights to destinations in the Middle East. The one who has influenced to discourage US involvement in the conflict has been Putin. The Kremlin leader has spoken with Xi Jinping and both have condemned Israel’s actions as a violation of the UN Charter. Putin has denied the possibility of Ali Khamenei becoming an Israeli target: “I don’t even want to hear such a thing”. An agreement has been reached with Xi to postpone a diplomatic solution. In this context, the Russian leader has warned of the risk of American intervention.
In the White House and the Pentagon, plans are ready. The US goal is to destroy Iran’s nuclear program without regime change. One of the most likely scenarios, according to a source familiar with the Iranian dossier, is the use of special forces.
An air strike with powerful bombs would be ineffective due to the depth (at least 100 meters) where the nuclear centrifuges at Fordow are stored. There is important intelligence information underground that needs to be recovered to guide the attack. According to what is circulating, one of the most talked-about military scenarios envisages the landing of a special unit near the Fordow plant to control the area and guarantee the success of a ground intervention. “Gathering accurate information is as important as destroying the plant itself,” is the conclusion.