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Donald Trump’s own intelligence officials say they definitely warned him about the consequences of attacking Iran, even as the president claims “nobody” could have seen it coming.
“They weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East,” Trump told reporters Monday of his war against the Islamic Republic. “Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait.”
“Nobody expected that. We were shocked!” he added. “Nobody, nobody, no, no, no. The greatest experts, nobody thought they were going to hit.”
Iran was pretty clear about how it would respond. HANDOUT/ROYAL THAI NAVY/AFP via Getty Im But, in fact, quite a number of people appear to have thought that. A Trump official and two other sources with knowledge of pre-strike U.S. intelligence assessments told Reuters later on Monday that Iranian retaliation against military assets and allied targets in the region was not “a guarantee, but it certainly was on the list of potential outcomes.”
Islamic regime officials weren’t exactly coy about it either during the tense build-up to the launch of Trump’s campaign on Feb. 28. “In the event that it is subjected to military aggression, Iran will respond decisively and proportionately in the exercise of its inherent right of self-defense,” they wrote in a not-so-secret letter to the United Nations less than 10 days before the U.S. strikes.
“In such circumstances, all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile force in the region would constitute legitimate targets in the context of Iran’s defensive response,” they went on. “The U.S. would bear full and direct responsibility for any unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences.”
More than a thousand Iranian civilians have been killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes, including dozens of school children killed by a stray U.S. missile that hit an elementary school in the southern city of Minab. At least 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Islamic regime forces have effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Global fuel markets have spiked dramatically, as panic over gas prices ripples across the U.S. ahead of midterms already set to be dominated by widespread concerns over inflation.
Trump’s claims that the Iranian response to his attacks could not have been foreseen is further questioned by the fact that the Islamic regime reacted in much the same way last June, when he ordered bombing strikes on nuclear facilities. Iran replied with a barrage of strikes against a major U.S. base in Qatar.
Trump described that attack as “very weak” and Iran “getting it out of their system,” later chalking the conflict up to one of the many he claimed to have solved in his campaign for last year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment on this story.
