The latest mainstream Narrative is that neither Israel nor the USA can destroy Iranian nuclear program without using nukes:
Donald Trump told defence officials it would only make sense for the U.S. to join Israel in striking Iran if its ‘bunker buster’ bombs are guaranteed to be able to destroy the key enrichment site at Fordow, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Officials were said to have been told that the U.S. would have to soften the ground with conventional bombs before dropping a tactical nuclear weapon from a B2 Bomber to completely destroy the site, believed to be some 90 metres underground.
But Trump is said to have ruled out nuking Iran, insiders told the Guardian. The possibility was said not to have been raised by defence secretary Pete Hegseth or chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Dan Caine during recent meetings in the Situation Room.
Trump said late on Thursday that he will now decide in the next two weeks whether to join in military action against Iran, before British and European diplomats were to meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday.
So they just figured this out now? That seems… unlikely, especially since a number of people, including Col. Macgregor, have been saying that the Iranian program couldn’t be destroyed by conventional means since before the current conflict began.
And now we’re suddenly seeing reports of 30,000 Israelis fleeing to Cyprus and stringent new laws banning the filming of missile strikes. Which, nearly one week in, would appear to suggest that the decapitation strike was no more successful for Israel than it was for Russia back in 2022. But while the attritional math favored Russia in that conflict, it would appear to favor Iran in this one.