Berliner Boersenzeitung - Bluff and last-minute orders: Trump's path to Iran decision

EUR -
AED 4.325935
AFN 82.357243
ALL 97.98399
AMD 453.431688
ANG 2.107768
AOA 1080.017014
ARS 1450.427229
AUD 1.793247
AWG 2.122935
AZN 1.997299
BAM 1.955505
BBD 2.380911
BDT 144.658206
BGN 1.955923
BHD 0.444046
BIF 3512.826034
BMD 1.177773
BND 1.501455
BOB 8.148772
BRL 6.372108
BSD 1.179207
BTN 100.543853
BWP 15.577587
BYN 3.859119
BYR 23084.342213
BZD 2.368743
CAD 1.59885
CDF 3397.874053
CHF 0.933743
CLF 0.02848
CLP 1092.915346
CNY 8.439208
CNH 8.436662
COP 4704.753831
CRC 595.302733
CUC 1.177773
CUP 31.210973
CVE 110.24839
CZK 24.633081
DJF 209.98569
DKK 7.461195
DOP 70.488483
DZD 152.84189
EGP 58.119191
ERN 17.666588
ETB 162.662004
FJD 2.634912
FKP 0.864607
GBP 0.861717
GEL 3.203778
GGP 0.864607
GHS 12.205161
GIP 0.864607
GMD 84.212651
GNF 10224.416228
GTQ 9.066634
GYD 246.712831
HKD 9.244849
HNL 30.809228
HRK 7.535628
HTG 154.834701
HUF 398.833248
IDR 19066.606673
ILS 3.925039
IMP 0.864607
INR 100.573512
IQD 1544.747601
IRR 49613.669626
ISK 142.404731
JEP 0.864607
JMD 188.390818
JOD 0.835018
JPY 170.019723
KES 152.422098
KGS 102.996405
KHR 4733.226631
KMF 492.308889
KPW 1060.026619
KRW 1603.066682
KWD 0.359492
KYD 0.982739
KZT 612.719887
LAK 25408.848409
LBP 105658.681922
LKR 353.772197
LRD 236.43438
LSL 20.652289
LTL 3.477656
LVL 0.712423
LYD 6.349962
MAD 10.580206
MDL 19.858008
MGA 5179.197737
MKD 61.531403
MMK 2472.387612
MNT 4222.647074
MOP 9.534164
MRU 46.767954
MUR 52.964626
MVR 18.15224
MWK 2044.883246
MXN 21.963963
MYR 4.973723
MZN 75.329989
NAD 20.652026
NGN 1802.757376
NIO 43.393278
NOK 11.849293
NPR 160.867716
NZD 1.940637
OMR 0.452869
PAB 1.179222
PEN 4.199767
PGK 4.868246
PHP 66.498218
PKR 334.637723
PLN 4.242778
PYG 9401.46388
QAR 4.297453
RON 5.058651
RSD 117.184785
RUB 93.342502
RWF 1693.937607
SAR 4.416984
SBD 9.819001
SCR 17.278871
SDG 707.233697
SEK 11.264629
SGD 1.500547
SHP 0.925544
SLE 26.44087
SLL 24697.306053
SOS 673.895613
SRD 43.795447
STD 24377.514118
SVC 10.318314
SYP 15313.139886
SZL 20.661624
THB 38.074443
TJS 11.432432
TMT 4.133982
TND 3.430583
TOP 2.758461
TRY 46.92803
TTD 7.989695
TWD 34.113016
TZS 3120.162088
UAH 49.238073
UGX 4230.362672
USD 1.177773
UYU 47.242883
UZS 14848.76295
VES 128.934888
VND 30837.030102
VUV 140.094991
WST 3.064012
XAF 655.855407
XAG 0.031985
XAU 0.000352
XCD 3.182989
XDR 0.815674
XOF 655.84984
XPF 119.331742
YER 285.197805
ZAR 20.615373
ZMK 10601.361125
ZMW 28.448714
ZWL 379.242284
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Bluff and last-minute orders: Trump's path to Iran decision
Bluff and last-minute orders: Trump's path to Iran decision / Photo: - - WHITE HOUSE/AFP

Bluff and last-minute orders: Trump's path to Iran decision

When Donald Trump said on Thursday he'd give himself two weeks to decide on bombing Iran, critics wrote it off as the US president using a familiar timeframe to put off difficult decisions.

Text size:

The next evening he left the White House for a fundraising dinner at his New Jersey golf resort, and much of the world seemed to believe that there was still space for diplomacy.

In reality, Trump was already on the verge of making his mind up.

A few hours after his arrival at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on Friday night, the first B-2 stealth bombers took off from a US airbase.

The next day, while the bombers were still in the air, Trump made the call on attacking three Iranian nuclear facilities, in the first direct US military strike on Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"The president gave the final order to the Secretary of Defense on Saturday," a senior White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"In the week leading up to the strike, the president was continuing to pursue diplomacy, mainly through Special Envoy (Steve) Witkoff's efforts, while the Pentagon was simultaneously preparing the operation," added the official.

- 'Misdirection' -

Trump's "two weeks" gambit appeared to be part of a broader campaign of what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called "misdirection," which included several B-2s flying in the opposite direction as a decoy.

Trump, the tycoon who prides himself as an expert on the "art of the deal," had ladled on the strategic ambiguity all week.

First he flew home early from the G7 summit for talks with his national security team. Then he unleashed a barrage of bellicose social media posts against Iran's supreme leader. On Wednesday he said that "I may do it, I may not" when asked about striking Iran.

Finally, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a statement from Trump in the White House briefing room on Thursday, saying there was a "substantial" chance of talks and that he would decide "whether or not to go within the next two weeks."

It played into a frequent criticism of Trump for setting two-week deadlines on everything from Ukraine to health care and then ignoring them.

But behind the scenes, Trump was increasingly determined, US officials said.

Trump had opposed Israel attacking Iran right up until it did so on June 13 -- but afterwards he openly admired Israel's success and was talking daily to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel's achievement of air superiority over Iran presented Trump with a unique opportunity to hit the nuclear program that he had railed against since his first term.

Trump was "briefed daily on the Israelis' efforts and the operation itself as he decided whether to move forward," the senior White House official said.

The US commander-in-chief held daily meetings with his National Security Council in the White House's basement Situation Room as he pondered his options.

And to head off opposition in his "Make America Great Again" movement to another Middle Eastern "forever war", he reportedly met his influential former aide Steve Bannon.

- 'Highly classified' -

In public, Trump and the White House took pains to keep things under wraps.

The normally talkative Trump said nothing to reporters as he returned to the White House on Saturday night, just one minute after his scheduled 6 pm arrival.

The timing was precise for a reason.

The first B-2 bomber dropped its bombs just 40 minutes later, at 6:40 pm US time, or 2:10 am Sunday Iranian time. The last submarine-fired Tomahawk missiles struck at 7:05 pm.

Trump announced the "very successful" strikes in a Truth Social post at 7:50 pm.

The White House then released pictures of a pensive looking Trump in the Situation Room, wearing his red "Make America Great Again" baseball cap.

"This was a highly classified mission with very few people in Washington knowing the timing or nature of this plan," US Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said on Sunday.

But the tough decisions are far from over for Trump, who was meeting his top team again on Monday in the Oval Office.

How will he respond to Iran's retaliation on Monday? If the US strikes did not completely destroy Iran's nuclear sites as he claimed, will he launch more?

Above all, will Trump go further than striking Iran's nuclear plants?

"If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)