Posted on 08/08/2026 2:36:09 PM PDT by Mount Athos
Over the last few weeks, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has privately made clear to other top Trump advisers that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran — because the military options on the table to escalate the conflict could backfire and airpower alone is unlikely to achieve President Donald Trump’s stated objectives.
...Trump ultimately decided to back off after talking with Middle East allies, who told him they were afraid of Iranian retaliation, specifically retaliatory attacks on their energy infrastructure.
...A shortage of high-end American air defense systems could impact their ability to ward off potential Iranian retaliation if Trump decides to escalate the conflict.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure, a move sources said is unlikely to force Iran to capitulate — as Caine himself has alluded to publicly — and almost certainly prompt retaliatory attacks targeting energy infrastructure of Gulf countries. Doing so would also likely further alienate the Iranian population, rather than fuel blame toward the regime, several sources said.
Trump has also considered bombing bridges, but doing so is similarly unlikely to yield productive results, per a second source. “There really isn’t much else to hit since it is whack-a-mole with drone and missile sites.”
Caine has raised concerns about the dwindling US munitions stockpile during at least two recent meetings with Trump.
Many within the administration as well as outside analysts agree that the only way to decisively defeat Iran would be through a major operation involving ground troops, a commitment that could potentially cost thousands of American lives.
The focus is on finding the off-ramp that offers the president a “symbolic” win — at minimum — he can try to sell to the American people
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
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Face it.
POTUS is determined to lose this war.
Per Wikipedia:
“John Daniel Caine (born 1968) is an American general who ...served as the associate director for military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2021 to 2024.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Caine
“privately” = typical anonymous anti-Trump bullshit from Communist News Network ...
this fake story has already been posted here once via Times of Israel, so paid ChiCom/Russkie trolls are repeating their lies ...
I wish the administration could present a more unified front. Trump needs backing so he can make believable threats. Having said that I hope that the administration is working other angles, like promising a homeland out of Iran for the Kurds. (Boy, would that upset Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Man, what a mess.) But the Kurds may be the best option for the Iranian people to be free of their oppressive government.
Two sources just ended their careers, unless CNN is lying while trying to take out Ratcliffe, Rubio, and JD.
UH As has happened for over a hundred years Military game plans EVERY conceivable outcome on any and all missions. The Allies even considered what could be done if Dday had failed.
BS, CNN is not a credible news source
So what was the point to going to war to begin with. See, Iran all they have to do is SURVIVE..you could lose 600 IRGC in one building but if ONE gets out alive, they won and that is what they consider a win
“Face it.
POTUS is determined to lose this war.”
____________________________________________________________
Hard to think that, but he never wanted to commit the military forces necessary to do the job properly because that would have required a lot of boots on Iranian ground.
Now, the whole debacle is going to string out until we can find some way to save face, declare victory, and remove our assets. Congressional candidates are already hearing about the unhappiness of their constituents, regardless of party.
No, the media that reports this sh*t are, and they are useful idiots of the IRGC. I hope Trump uses this info to set them up for another spanking.
Iran just listed 6 demands, they are coming off as the ones in charge.
50,000 Iranians who loved us were murdered.
This is miserable, worth a full out war??? I don’t know.
Maybe the Iranians learned from George Washington.
In the revolutionary war, we lost every battle where we fought toe to toe with England as they did, in line formations. We have up on that early.
So instead we did guerilla war, hiding in forests, raiding and running away, and George Washington led troops to repeatedly run away. We inflicted costs on England and survived by running away until they gave up.
England could do whack+a-mole, trying to hit us where we’d pop up and run away.
That’s the same situation we have trying to hit Iranian missile sites, whavk-a-mole
It will work itself out in November when the Rats take control of Congress. They’ve already waited it out for 4 months, they can go another 12 weeks stringing Trump along on ‘deals’. Trump thinks war is like making a deal for supplies for his hotels, all he cares about is ‘the deal’.
🤡
Times of Israel reports the same.
Are you silly enough to also call them Communists?
Is it really even a war? Is Israel at war with them too?
“Just ended...”
So only yes men need apply or remain?
One needs a variety of opinions...
So when CNN reported 100% support among MAGA back in March, which Trump.liked to hear, they werent credible then?
Be careful to not slip into confirmation bias. The following was a famtastic poll that CNN reported on for MAGA support for Trump back in March 2026.
https://youtu.be/m4QdpbxJuVc?is=qJauIC5Y2ftuesxT
So Trump wasn’t committed to Bush Bot mission creep?
At one point, voices within the Trump administration openly discussed and threatened to target Iranian civilian and energy infrastructure—such as power plants, bridges, and water facilities—as a retaliatory measure during military escalations.
50k killed by the Iranian regime is/was awful.
But should the Trump administration have targeted the civilians to “help” the civilians? No.
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