When asked about the attacks on Gulf states, Trump's one-liner left reporters stunned!
According to CNN, when questioned about Iran's retaliatory strikes against Gulf neighbors, Trump's response surprised the journalists present. He not only claimed that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE were "counterattacking," but also emphasized that these nations were "surprised" by the attacks—adding that he himself was "very surprised" too.
Before the war broke out, multiple authoritative media outlets and think tanks, including BBC and Foreign Affairs magazine, had already analyzed and warned that Iran was highly likely to retaliate by attacking U.S. forces and Arab neighboring countries.
Months before the conflict erupted, Iranian officials had reportedly issued warnings through outlets like Reuters to regional countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, stating that if the U.S. launched an attack, military bases within their territories would become targets.
Yet Trump publicly declared that "no one—not even the top experts"—had foreseen Iran targeting Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Insider sources revealed that U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed prior to the action that Iran "might" expand its retaliation to include American allies, and that Israel’s strike plans were very likely to provoke retaliation against U.S. military personnel stationed in the region.
As Diao Ge sees it, Trump simply chose to ignore intelligence warnings, or perhaps overconfidently believed Iran wouldn’t dare strike U.S. allies. Maybe this blind confidence stemmed from his perceived success in Venezuela.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861068708450304/
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