President Donald Trump used a lunch with his former chief strategist and a statement released through his White House press secretary as part of an elaborate strategy of head fakes and misdirection aimed at lulling Iran’s government — and GOP critics at home — into believing he was not ready to order American airstrikes.
In describing the surprise Saturday blitz attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Sunday morning called it “an incredible and overwhelming success” as he also alluded to the use of “misdirection and the highest of operational security” to conceal the plan.
Indeed, the New York Times reported, the president made use of his pre-planned Thursday lunch appointment with Steve Bannon — the MAGA-influential War Room podcast host who was one of the architects of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and served as the then-45th president’s chief strategist for the opening months of his term — to take the temperature down on any sense of urgency about a U.S. attack.
Bannon, a populist firebrand who had been arguing against striking Iran the past couple of weeks because of Trump’s longstanding pledge to keep the U.S. out of new wars in the Middle East, arrived at the White House on Thursday for a lunch that had been on both their calendars for some time.
Footage of him near an entrance to the West Wing was captured on news cameras used to monitor visitors to the White House, and his appearance there was taken by numerous pundits as evidence that Trump was listening to him and backing away from striking Iran, at least in the short term.
At the same time, he dictated a statement that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out at a press briefing that afternoon, telling members of the White House press corps that Trump would make a decision on airstrikes “within the next two weeks,” using a framing he’d made use of for years to manufacture delays on contentious decisions.
But in reality, Trump had already decided to order the airstrikes, with the Times reporting that he formally green-lit the mission around 5 pm on Friday and ABC News saying that by the time he and Bannon sat down for lunch, the president had already approved the plan.
Approximately 24 hours later, the B-2 bombers, each carrying a pair of 30,000-pound Massive Ordinance Penetrator weapons — bunker-busting bombs meant to take out hardened facilities — crossed into Iranian airspace.
And Bannon appeared to indicate he was even briefed on the fact of the coming strike at lunch, telling his listeners on Saturday morning: “The party is on.”
“So another big weekend in this unfolding aspect of the Third World War, and no, anyone that’s telling you that the Third World War is not here absolutely does not understand the development and evolution of kinetic energy,” he went on.
The airstrikes were carried out on Saturday by seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers and other fighter aircraft, plus Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from an American Ohio-class guided missile submarine.
Trump pleads with oil companies to keep prices down after Iran blockade threat
Trump says he’ll primary Republican Thomas Massie in extended Truth Social rant: ‘Pathetic loser’
Vance says ‘dumb presidents’ mark difference in previous Middle East attacks
Satellite images throw Trump’s claims over success of Iran strikes into doubt
