Blinken Comments On Trump’s Iran Strike
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to launch strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling the move “unwise and unnecessary” in a Tuesday guest essay for The New York Times.
Blinken, who served under former President Joe Biden, acknowledged he hoped the strikes achieved their objective, but warned they may have undermined long-term U.S. security interests.
The strikes, conducted Saturday by B-2 stealth bombers dropping 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, targeted three Iranian nuclear sites. President Trump characterized the mission as “a spectacular military success” and later announced on Truth Social that both Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire. However, continued hostilities on Tuesday prompted Trump to express frustration with both nations.
Blinken’s criticism extended beyond the immediate operation. He condemned Trump’s broader Iran strategy, noting that the president withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear deal in 2018 without a viable alternative. “In response, Iran accelerated its enrichment, quite likely reducing its breakout time to a matter of days or weeks,” Blinken wrote. “Mr. Trump, in essence, is now trying to put out a fire on which he poured gasoline.”
He also challenged the urgency with which the strikes were carried out, pointing to assessments from U.S. intelligence agencies suggesting Iran had not yet made a decision to pursue weaponization.
According to Blinken, some estimates indicated Iran would require 18 to 24 months to produce a nuclear explosive device, had it chosen to proceed. “There was still time for diplomacy to work,” he argued, contending that the situation had not reached the emergency levels claimed by the administration.
Blinken further questioned the operational success of the strike itself. He cited skepticism from defense experts about the ability of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs to fully disable deeply buried nuclear infrastructure, including the Fordo facility.
Trump, meanwhile, defended the operation and dismissed reports downplaying its impact. In a televised statement, he targeted CNN for its coverage, saying, “They’re trying to say, ‘Well, maybe it wasn’t really as demolished as we thought.’ It was demolished.” He called on the network to apologize to the B-2 pilots, whom he praised for their execution of the mission.
Despite his criticism, Blinken closed his remarks with a cautious note of hope: “Now that the military die has been cast, I can only hope that we inflicted maximum damage — damage that gives the president the leverage he needs to finally deliver the deal he has so far failed to achieve.”