"The assessment was that Iran had limited capacity/capability to strike back."
strike back at whom? Israel or the US? if the former, the comment is either uninformed or targeted at a specific audience; and Tchir is not uninformed. The first round of fighting unequivocally goes to Iran.
If at the US, I wonder what is holding up the US? They have been trying to control Iran since the Iranian revolution.
This is not Syria nor is it the Ukraine. This is a country with highly intelligent and opinionated people. In times of peace, complaints about governance inevitably rise. In times of war, the public is right behind their government.
This is a time when the public will fight for the country no matter who is in charge. Just as Iran didnt want any of Russia's military assistance in defence of Israel, the public also don't want any help from the West against the theocrats. The question then becomes, what is the USA in it for? I am sure the Iranians already have the answer to that question but if you want to know, you have to ask the people who live there, not the diaspora who live in Western capitals.
Trump sure didn't like Iran breaking the ceasefire (which they should not have done), nor Israel responding (which, sadly, they probably felt they needed to do).
I also don't believe any real ceasefire was negotiated, I suspect it was dictated in Kissingerian fashion to both sides.
This is definitely evidence of your "the US joined this to shut it down)". I suspect the Israelis had many more targets and objectives for at least weeks. But I also suspect that they had too few THAADs, Arrows, Patriots, slings, beams, and dome coverage!
I should also add (having many thoughts on how the ceasefire went down: where is the unconditional surrender mentioned just a few days ago? It looks more like other interlocutors got in and shut this down (restraintist/isolationists? Qatar? Messages from Russia/China to the US?). It'll be interesting to hear how this actually went down (I trust the media and public theater as far as I can throw them). But getting excellent knowledge of inside affairs will be interesting, if it happens.
"The assessment was that Iran had limited capacity/capability to strike back."
strike back at whom? Israel or the US? if the former, the comment is either uninformed or targeted at a specific audience; and Tchir is not uninformed. The first round of fighting unequivocally goes to Iran.
If at the US, I wonder what is holding up the US? They have been trying to control Iran since the Iranian revolution.
This is not Syria nor is it the Ukraine. This is a country with highly intelligent and opinionated people. In times of peace, complaints about governance inevitably rise. In times of war, the public is right behind their government.
This is a time when the public will fight for the country no matter who is in charge. Just as Iran didnt want any of Russia's military assistance in defence of Israel, the public also don't want any help from the West against the theocrats. The question then becomes, what is the USA in it for? I am sure the Iranians already have the answer to that question but if you want to know, you have to ask the people who live there, not the diaspora who live in Western capitals.
Trump sure didn't like Iran breaking the ceasefire (which they should not have done), nor Israel responding (which, sadly, they probably felt they needed to do).
I also don't believe any real ceasefire was negotiated, I suspect it was dictated in Kissingerian fashion to both sides.
This is definitely evidence of your "the US joined this to shut it down)". I suspect the Israelis had many more targets and objectives for at least weeks. But I also suspect that they had too few THAADs, Arrows, Patriots, slings, beams, and dome coverage!
I should also add (having many thoughts on how the ceasefire went down: where is the unconditional surrender mentioned just a few days ago? It looks more like other interlocutors got in and shut this down (restraintist/isolationists? Qatar? Messages from Russia/China to the US?). It'll be interesting to hear how this actually went down (I trust the media and public theater as far as I can throw them). But getting excellent knowledge of inside affairs will be interesting, if it happens.