Ms Leavitt statement reported by BeeBeeCee:
I feel a strange level of affection that is quite alien. Someone somewhere is making a point that is sticking.
Iran has now an opportunity to take action to de-escalate their closure of the Straits of Hormuz, which will pit a rather large number of countries against them, while determining what is best for the state of Iran and how important being an Islamic state that has a fairly large level of resentment from it's populace.
A historical truth is that the autocratic powerbase when it crumbles takes away a lot of privilege and occasionally the breath of those that have used their power to harm the population, bit of a tiff may ensue.
The merit of religion seems to not favour one over the other, in fact, amongst the lot of them, I think at least the Zen Buddhists eat heartily, and the Catholics get Pizza. Decision, decisions.
When putting off WW-3 by 2-weeks is a win, we are definitely in the "interesting times" phase-space.
We can't have urbane people like yourself feeling affection for the feckless!
Seriously though - this is sounding like the Chinese playbook in the South China sea.
Iran again denies, delays, dissembles, buys time.
To me, absent intelligence and any publicly disclosed hard evidence, noting Netanyahu has been saying they're weeks/months away from breakout for years now - there's one glaring indicator of the regime's true intent, and that's the hundred or so metres of rock and concrete above the Fordow centrifuge halls.
If you're pursuing a non-military nuclear program, then why have you deeply buried it?
Build your facilities on the surface and let the IAEA in - problem solved. You get your peaceful nuclear power and medicine program, the world breathes easy.
Until then, the world has the right to be suspicious. When a regime with the track record of Iran builds such a deeply buried facility, that alone is a trigger to act in my personal opinion.
Oh, so you then say you have a right to a nuclear weapon because the little Satan has them already and you need to potentially be able to defend yourselves ? (yes I know they've been supposedly deemed un-Islamic, but bear with me here)
You don't fear the Jews - you hate them - and there's a big difference.
Yes they're aggressive. Yes they're now arguably genocidal in Gaza - shelling starving people running for food - utterly egregious.
Is their leader a war criminal? Possibly. But common sense tells me I know who I'd rather have the bomb. And I respect the hell out of their fighter pilots and spooks.
Is that a double standard - most likely.
Ten years ago I busted my ankle. As I lay in the bay being prepped for surgery, the anaesthetic technician and I got talking. He was Iranian, shifted to Australia as a student.
I asked him "...are they really pursing the bomb?"
He rolled his eyes, laughed at the naivety of my question and said emphatically "...oh yes, indeed!"