‘Donald Trump prone to order main lethal US assault on Iran in just some weeks’

On Feb 18, 2026

“US President Donald Trump is ‘highly likely’ to issue the command to launch massive and devastating strikes against Iran – despite the ‘success’ of Geneva peace talks”

14:31, 18 Feb 2026

There are two parallel dynamics to the growing tension between Iran and the US – these diplomatic talks and a relentless American military build up towards war.

It is highly likely the former is pure theatre aimed at domestic audiences for both sides – President Trump wanting to appear to try to avoid war and Tehran doing the same. If or when the US bombs start falling and Iranian missiles are in the skies headed for US and Israeli targets both sides will be able to tell their audiences – ‘look what they made us do…’

But the second dynamic is a relentless, immensely costly and deadly drumbeat towards a major confrontation between the US and Israel and Iran as war is likely to break out. Iranian diplomat Abbas Araghchi says the Geneva talks this week represented “good progress,” but again, he will be more concerned about being seen to do his job back home.

And the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are dusting off their ballistic missiles, concreting over their enriched uranium stocks to protect them and issuing bellicose threats. Trump, beginning to drown from a tsunami of Epstein-related sleaze, is more inclined towards allowing another external drama to unfold so this is good timing for him.

And he had had his ear bent by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning Israel will launch strikes against Iran’s ballistic installations if the US does not. Security sources tell me Israel will in the coming days probably produce evidence of Iranian provocations towards the US, perhaps relating to its nuclear programme.

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Perhaps the Israelis will further stoke the fire with evidence of a long-term Iranian terrorist plan against US or US-related interests, thus keeping Trump on the path to war. One insider told me: “A lot of interested people have been saying for some time that the timing is right for Israel to try and solidify American resolve against Tehran.

“They are very likely to produce something in the next week to keep Trump on track, to ensure that the momentum towards strikes against Iran are not diverted by peace talks. If Israeli intelligence has a golden nugget of information on Iran, and it has immense files on Tehran, then around about now would be the time to leak it, probably in the States.

“This information will be aimed directly at Trump because Netanyahu left Washington last week and they need to make sure the President is still very much on board.” Right now the huge strike force USS Abraham Lincoln and its guided missile destroyers are in the Arabian Sea, with one or two more aircraft carriers on the way.

Squadrons of F-22 Raptor fighters are in the Middle East and even more F-35 fighters have been moved up to the region to complement Lincoln’s fighter bomber force. Six more E3 Sentry US spy planes are making their way to the Middle East- a late entry to the US war machine that is usually an indicator that preparation for war are almost complete.

It is therefore highly likely that in the next week or two the US and or Israel will launch strikes against Iran and once again Israel and other allies may come under attack. Not that Trump has the capacity for the long-term, but if these strikes are aimed at regime change the terror and insurgency threat could make Iran like a new Syria or Iraq on steroids.

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And they both gave rise to the Islamic State terror network. The thought of what 200,000 disaffected IRGC loyalists could do to the western world is terrifying.