US forces planned a 'weeks-long' operation on Iran. But, Trump shot it down

More details emerge regarding the "success" of the US operation in Iran, which saw it raining bunker buster bombs on nuclear sites last month. While the US's single-day action saw it target Iran's three nuclear sites, a report claims the US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, had other plans.

The comprehensive plan developed by the US Central Command involved a military action that spanned several weeks instead of a single night, a US official told NBC News. 

However, President Donald Trump did not approve the idea. Reason: It was against his administration's foreign policy, which was anchored on extracting the US from conflicts abroad, not digging deeper into them. Trump was also worried about casualties on both sides, the report added. "We were willing to go all the way in our options, but the president did not want to," one of the sources with knowledge of the plan said. 

The plan was devised at the end of Joe Biden's administration, and Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command, had developed a plan to go "all-in" on striking Iran. The plan was to decimate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and the US would hit six sites repeatedly to "completely end the programme." This meant more hitting Iran's air defence and ballistic missile capabilities and could result in a high number of Iranian casualties. 

They expected that Iran would target American positions in Iraq and Syria. 

However, Trump vetoed the idea as it would have "required a sustained period of conflict."

As for the US bombing, the NBC report said only one of the three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran that were struck was mostly destroyed. The US officials believe that the attack on Fordow was significant and could set back  Iranian enrichment capabilities at that site by as much as two years, whereas the bombings didn't do much damage to Natanz and Isfahan.

Middle East