The Last Thing America Needs Right Now Is War With Iran
It is imperative that the U.S. resist calls for escalation.
Despite relentless pressure, President Donald Trump has thus far resisted the push for a regime-change war with Iran, thanks in large part to the growing influence of America First realists fighting to reclaim U.S. foreign policy from the permanent war machine.
But that influence is under siege, as evidenced by the shake-ups within the Pentagon as well as external forces in the media targeting administration officials who have preached realism and restraint over escalation.
Starting from within the Pentagon, Dan Caldwell, a former senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, recently appeared on the Tucker Carlson show to discuss the circumstances surrounding his firing for allegedly leaking classified information, an allegation he vehemently denies.
Caldwell was one of three staffers who were recently terminated from their positions at the Pentagon. All three staffers, coincidentally, but perhaps not, were voices who had either opposed a regime-change war with Iran (Caldwell) or threatened other “established interests” within the Pentagon, leading Tucker to conclude during the interview that it was not leaks, but rather their opposition to war with Iran that led to their firings.
Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is under fire from neocons after she recently testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee “that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized [restarting] the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
This caused neoconservative media personality Mark Levin and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley to push back on Gabbard, both sharing an op-ed from former John Bolton Chief of Staff Fred Fleitz, who called the intelligence reports referenced by Gabbard “stupid intelligence.”
Lastly, in a significant shakeup, Trump recently fired National Security Council Advisor Mike Waltz and his colleague, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Alex Wong. Although Waltz was ousted primarily due to his role in Signalgate, both Waltz and Wong were reportedly more hawkish on Iran. (Wong will reportedly stay on for the present at the National Security Council, helping with the transition as Secretary of State Marco Rubio steps in as interim national security advisor.)
According to Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, “Waltz and Wong were among the more hawkish of Trump’s close advisors, especially on issues related to Iran and China. … At many points, both Waltz and Wong have seemed out of sync with President Trump, who very clearly wants to avoid a war with Iran.”
Given the extent of these private and public battles, it should be clear that we are witnessing an ideological struggle between proponents of an America First “realist” foreign policy, particularly regarding Iran, and an entrenched neoconservative faction that is pushing for regime change within yet another Middle Eastern country.
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