“In internal deliberations before the war’s launch, Hegseth had pointed to Iran’s muted reaction to Trump’s past attacks as evidence that calibrated force could impose costs on Tehran without triggering a broader war. Hegseth “was caught off guard. There’s no question,” says a person familiar with his thinking.”
If this is true, it is the height of incompetency. The US and Israeli attacks were not limited, they assassinated the leader of the country! The most likely response from Iran would be huge. Yet, the Trump administration seemed to have not expected this.
“Officials from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain have conveyed in private conversations that they do not want the military operation to end until there are significant changes in the Iranian leadership or there’s a dramatic shift in Iranian behavior, according to the officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.”
Iran says that the reason they enriched uranium past the agreed upon amount was because Trump betrayed the deal Iran made with the United States. They only did it as retaliation for the United States backing out of an agreement both countries agreed to, not because they wanted a nuke.