Caine’s concern has centered on the low stockpile of anti-missile systems, the people said. After Trump bombed Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites last year, the US fired 30 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian counterattacks, the largest single use of those missiles in US history.

Those counterattacks were limited in scope. But, this time, Iran has vowed this time to retaliate as hard as possible in response to any US attack, and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned last week that he had the ability to sink a US warship.

Caine has come across as more vocal about his concerns inside the Pentagon than when he has briefed Trump, in what officials have privately speculated as an effort to not appear to be advocating for a particular course of action, a person familiar with the matter said.

In a statement, the White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Caine is “a highly respected professional whose job requires providing unbiased information to the Commander in Chief, which he does perfectly”, and that he has not been offering his personal views.

But there is also uncertainty inside the administration about whether airstrikes would be sufficient to strong-arm Iran into making a deal – or even bring about the ouster of Khamenei and his circle of religious leaders.

To that end, administration officials have also explored potential off-ramps to avoid military conflict. Among the ideas under discussion is allowing Iran to maintain limited nuclear enrichment capability strictly for medical research, treatment or other civilian energy purposes.

Rubio is also expected to travel to Israel to update its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in meetings scheduled for 28 February on the outcome of negotiations, two people familiar with the matter said.

Yet ahead of what could be the final negotiating session, there were indications that positions were hardening.

Witkoff said on Fox News on Sunday that Trump’s directive was to ensure Iran would retain zero nuclear enrichment capability – only for Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, to say on CBS’s Face the Nation that Tehran was not prepared to relinquish enrichment.

As it prepares for the possibility of Trump authorizing military action, the US has assembled its largest concentration of air power in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The USS Gerald Ford, the US navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive within days.

The carrier, which was moving south of Italy on Sunday en route toward Israel, would become the second aircraft carrier in the region. Its arrival would add to dozens of advanced F-35 and F-22 fighter jets, along with bombers and refueling aircraft already deployed.

The buildup would give Trump the option of sustaining an extended air campaign against Iran, rather than carrying out a limited strike like last summer’s operation, when B-2 bombers flew from the US to hit a small number of enrichment sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.

Amazing how this comes from the 'peace' candidate

All peoples deserve to be free from American occupation. Thankfully it seems that the leader of Iran has a stronger moral character than that coward Maduro.

>Literal who’s with no diplomatic experience get to decide if we get to go into another forever war
Wonderful

Trump works for Israel, not the US. He isn't even trying to hide it.

MIGA

>>1491566
>Trump works for Israel,
Kushner is directly paid by the Zionists, as well as the Saudi royalty who conspire to keep the Middle East in chaos so that they can stay in power.

>>1491566
Biden works for Ukraine, not the US. He isn't even trying to hide it.
MUGA

Why did he say no new wars if he was going to do this?

>>1491562
Not a literal who, its Trumps personal backdoor envoy to the Saudi Princes
so its worse, we're doing it on behalf of the only foreign government to attack US soil this millenia

>>1491601
How many US soldiers were lost during the Israel-Iran war?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Israel_war
How many US soldiers were lost while taking Nicolas Maduro into custody?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_intervention_in_Venezuela
I think you need to look at Trump's track record before making projections about the future

>>1491605
No new wars doesn’t mean ushering in a new wave of American Imperialism
I know you have the memory of goldfish, but the people who voted for him because they foolishly believed he was the peace President aren’t happy with being made to look like retards

>>1491606
I think he is the peace president
I think that the wars which started while Joe Biden was president were far more damaging. The Russia-Ukraine war, and the Israel-Palestine war. I don't think Biden took any accountability for eroding deterrence

>>1491605
>How many people were lost in single operations compared to years of sustained warfare

>>1491611
Did you see the news story in the opening post?
It was talking about airstrikes on Iran, like during the 12 days war between Iran and Israel.
It was not talking about boots on the ground and a sustained occupation like Iraq/Afghanistan

>>1491606
>American Imperialism
You've never seen an era of American Imperialism, but I hope you do. It would be an objective good for humanity for America to unabashedly take military control of the entire Western Bloc and deport or kill anyone south of a California Tan.

>>1491614
you're literally not white or american

>>1491614
>Regime change and 20 years of occupation isn’t imperialism
You’re so goddamn dumb

>>1491618
How many soldiers did we send to occupy Venezuela?

>>1491623
>we
anon...

>>1491636
How many soldiers did the United States Armed Forces send to occupy Venezuela?

>>1491637
how many rotc dropouts did trump send to occupy american states who didn't vote for him

>>1491638
I think you are confusing the United States Armed Forces and The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security.

>>1491639
nobody is confused, trump hired the faggots who rioted for him to be his brownshirts and they're dressed like insurgents to boot

>>1491641
See I was talking about how many soldiers the US sent to occupy Venezuela, and then you started talking about ICE. I don't think we sent any ICE officers to Venezuela.
It almost seems like whataboutism, a non-sequitur to the question of how many soldiers we sent for the forever war that would be war with Venezuela

>>1491641
I believe there is a strong correlation between those Patriots who showed up for January 6th and those now wearing government masks to help make America free again

>>1491645
sorry esl shill, the fact that trump is using a federal agency to occupy parts of america that didn't vote for him is more important than whatever shit talking point you're trying to spam

>>1491646
Did you have a problem with law enforcement wearing masks during 2020, 2021 and 2022?

>>1491648
law enforcement cried crocodile tears over wearing masks, esl shill. i guess you don't remember that though since you're literally not american. get a real job faggot

>>1491649
As opposed to the people crying about law enforcement wearing masks in 2026. Those are real tears, not crocodile tears, right?

>>1491650
do you fuck kids too or something

>>1491652
Whataboutism

>>1491653
>whataboutism
we're talking about ice, aren't we? the personal army of the kidfucker in chief, and they've been known to do some kidfucking of their own

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/11/18/twin-cities-ice-employee-among-16-arrested-in-child-sex-trafficking-sting

so i can only surmise you're in the same boat since you're their little cheerleader

>>1491654
>kidfucker
Source?

>>1491656
yes, the link i posted is the source. god you're esl

>>1491656
Are you for fucking real? He's a pedophile. Accept it, you fucking idiot.

>>1491532
I for one am glad matters of national security and warfare are being decided by the Trump family instead of someone with (((qualifications))) or (((experience)))

>>1491672
nta, but you're not talking about Vance, are you?
I think he's one of the few non-pedophiles on team Trump, though he is a pedophile enabler
There's also the unsavory rumor of a video of Vance molesting a childrens carseat...

>>1491532
Great so it's down to Jared Of Arabia and the least competent diplomat of all time.

>>1491602
Kushner also employs a ton of Israelis to run his weird insurance business and his small startup empire (primary anonymous source right here). He's Mossad.

>>1491679
Vance is Peter Theil's protege (like Elon Musk, and Alex Karp). Which is even worse than a pedophile. Being a pedo does necessitate being a white collar criminal with CIA backing.
Pedos will hurt a finite number of children. White-collar criminals will misdirect vast amounts of resources, which will destroy the nation.
I think the white-collar crime is a bigger threat and the bigger story, than the trafficking. I think both deserve the death penalty.
Kushner is as dirty as it gets.
Letting Kushner decide when to bomb Iran is letting Netanyahu decide when to bomb Iran.

>>1491637
I have no idea how many US soldiers have boots on the ground in VZ (if any). That's a great question. I only know what they've said about the naval blockades.

>>1491721
>I think the white-collar crime is a bigger threat and the bigger story, than the trafficking.
Then you're an idiot. The pedophilia is intrinsically linked to the corruption inherent to the current administration. It's literally a bunch of white old men making choices based on whoever is holding the most blackmail over their heads.
The only reason why I think Trump wasn't fucking kids himself is because he elevated a mere conspiracy into the realm of a national scandal by choosing to release the files.
For all the kvetching dems do, not a one of them is willing to talk about the CIA's involvement in this shit.

>>1491721
Oh no! Peter Thiel? Holy shit!
Democrats are led by former terrorists Bill Clinton pardoned\ and I'm supposed to care about Peter Thiel?
I don't.

>>1491743
That's pretty bad, but the key difference here is that these concerns are actually real, as opposed to whatever retarded bullshit you're talking about.

>>1491746
>I made some stuff up.
So, vote for the daycare scammers and others embroiled in constant lying, theft and scandals?
I think I won't

>>1491746
he's esl shill, you can't reform him