'Mixed feelings' in Iran: journalist Gilda Sahebi – DW – 06/17/2025
06/17/2025
June 17, 2025
People in Iran are mostly scared, fearing for their lives, says German-Iranian journalist Gilda Sahebi. They may be hoping that this may be the end of the regime, but though the regime is obviously weak, it is still as repressive as ever.
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Iran Confronts Trump With Toughest Choice Yet
President Donald Trump faces potentially the hardest choice of his time in the White House, as he weighs up whether the United States should join Israel's bombing campaign against Iran. Trump fueled speculation about a US intervention as he dashed back from a G7 summit in Canada, warning Tuesday that the United States could kill Iran's supreme leader, but would not "for now." The choice is a monumental one for a president who has vowed throughout both his first and second terms in the Oval Office to get the United States out of its "forever wars" in the Middle East. "It's a major political and military choice that could define his legacy in the Middle East," Behnam Ben Taleblu, director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told AFP. As Trump met his National Security Council in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday, there were already hints that he was considering abandoning what was until recently his preferred diplomatic route. The most likely option under consideration by Trump would be the use of giant US "bunker-buster" bombs against Iran's deeply buried Fordow nuclear facility that Israel's bombs could not reach. US officials said dismantling Iran's nuclear program -- which Western countries say Tehran is using to seek a nuclear weapon -- remained Trump's priority. Trump also implied that the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is back on the table, just days after a US official said he had waved off such a move by Israel. US officials stressed that Trump had not yet made a decision and was keeping all options on the table, with the situation fluid and changing "hourly." The Axios news site said Trump was even considering a new meeting between his top negotiator Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi. A game-changer however would be any Iranian attack on US forces in the region, with an official saying that Trump would not tolerate a "hair on the back of an American" being harmed. Trump's change of tone is remarkable for coming less than a week after the US president -- who has openly talked about wanting to win the Nobel Peace Prize -- called on Israel to avoid strikes. But amid frequent phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Netanyahu's own hints about pursuing regime change in Iran, Trump has pivoted. Trump has ordered the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier to the region along with a number of US military aircraft, raising questions about whether he will act. A further hint that action may be on the cards came from the White House's apparent efforts to see off any backlash from his own Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. There has been growing opposition to any Iran intervention from the isolationist wing of his base, who hold him to his pledge to keep the United States out of wars like those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vice President JD Vance defended his boss, saying Trump had "earned some trust" on the issue and "may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian (uranium) enrichment." "Having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish American people's goals," the Iraq veteran said, in a nod to MAGA skeptics. Trump himself meanwhile hinted at his mood as he mulled his critical decision. He reposted a comment by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, saying God had "spared" Trump from an assassination attempt last year. "The decisions on your shoulders I would not want to be made by anyone else. You have many voices speaking to you Sir, but there is only ONE voice that matters. HIS voice," Huckabee said.
DW
4 hours ago
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'Mixed feelings' in Iran: journalist Gilda Sahebi – DW – 06/17/2025
06/17/2025 June 17, 2025 People in Iran are mostly scared, fearing for their lives, says German-Iranian journalist Gilda Sahebi. They may be hoping that this may be the end of the regime, but though the regime is obviously weak, it is still as repressive as ever.
DW
5 hours ago
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Israel-Iran conflict: Where exactly does Trump stand? – DW – 06/17/2025
US President Donald Trump calls himself a "peacemaker" — but also labeled Iran's Supreme Leader an "easy target." So where does he really stand, and are he and Israeli PM Netanyahu on the same page? Israel's assault on Iran was discussed with Washington before it was launched. "There were no surprises here," said Fox News anchor Brett Bair after an interview with US President Donald Trump last Friday. The US government has made clear that it was not actively involved in the attack, though questions arose on whether this would remain so when the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was rerouted from the South China Sea to the Middle East. And on Tuesday, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that the US knew the exact location of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. "He is an easy target, but is safe there," Trump wrote. "We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now." On the campaign trail ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, Trump never tired of repeating that he had no desire to allow the US to get caught up in global military conflicts. In his January 2025 inaugural address, Trump called himself a "peacemaker," pledging to use the might of the US to "stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity" to the world. Speaking in Saudi Arabia in May, he announced the dawn of a new era of peace in the Middle East. The front page of an Iranian newspaper reporting on recent nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran Image: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images What's Trump's stance on Iran? Not much remains of this peaceful attitude in the wake of Israel's full-on assault on Iran. On Monday night, Trump wrote on Truth Social that "everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran." In a previous post, he wrote that he had given Tehran's leaders "chance after chance" to sign a new nuclear deal, warning that if they failed to sign one, Iran would face an attack worse than anything they could imagine. Trump wrote that hardliners who had come out against an agreement "are all dead now," adding, "it will only get worse!" Delegations from both nations have met several times since April, with the aim of negotiating a replacement treaty for the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) deal that Trump withdrew the US from in 2018. Trump claims his aim has always been to ensure that Iran can never build a nuclear weapon — which was also the aim of the JCPOA. Beyond military and civilian targets, Israel's attacks also hit Iranian nuclear sites. An attack on Iran's state broadcaster: Tehran appears incapable of protecting critical infrastructure from Israeli assault Image: IRIB Is Israel leading the US into war? So where does Donald Trump actually stand in this conflict between the hardline governments of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran? British-Israeli political scientist Daniel Levy, president of the non-profit research institute US/Middle East Project, suggests Israel may have convinced the US that a military attack against Iran could help advance nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran. Levy also told DW it was no coincidence that Israel had chosen this moment to attack. "I think one of the primary motivating factors for Netanyahu was to act now because were there a break-through in the talks, he would probably feel sufficiently constrained by the Americans not to act." In any case, Trump decided not to red light Netanyahu's attack on Iran, wrote Willian F. Wechsler, in a blog post for the US think tank Atlantic Council, where he is director of the Middle East program. There was no specific demand that Israel refrain from attacking, therefore, "we should assume that Israeli leaders would have interpreted the absence of an American red light as a de facto green light," wrote Wechsler. Trump stuck in the middle In May, Trump made headlines by firing his national security advisor, Michael Waltz, who had created headaches for the administration by erroneously adding a well-known journalist to a chat group discussing secret US military plans on the messenger service Signal. But research by the Washington Post newspaper found that something else had in fact led to Waltz's firing: Trump's advisor is said to have had intense discussions with Prime Minister Netanyahu about possible military options for dealing with Iran — and that, prior to Netanyahu's visit to the White House. The paper wrote that Waltz, "wanted to take US policy in a direction Trump wasn't comfortable with…" Was National Security Advisor Michael Waltz fired for pushing policies Trump wasn't comfortable with? Image: Ben Curtis/AP Photo/picture alliance So where does the US commander-in-chief stand exactly? Does he oppose military action against Iran, or does he see it as grounds for celebration? In Levy's view, the US president is tacking back and forth because his own MAGA (Make America Great Again) base is highly divided on the issue of military deployments in the Middle East. There's "a fissure in MAGA-world," says Levy. On one side, there are those who are all in on Trump's "America first" approach that puts US interests above all else. The last thing this group wants is for the US to become involved in a distant conflict that they feel does not directly affect them. On the other side are Trump's many conservative Jewish-American and evangelical Christian supporters, who believe the US must support Israel — even militarily if necessary — no matter what. Levy says the situation is risky. "There's also a question here of whether the rest of the world will see an America that can be led by the nose into a military confrontation by an ally who acts out of turn," says the political scientist. "That's not a good message to send." Israel-Iran conflict: 'Deciding factor is likely Washington' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This article was originally published in German and was translated by Jon Shelton. Edited by: Jess Smee
