The famous and usually very well informed US journalist Sheymour Hersh wrote a report on what is most likely to happen in Iran, as early as this weekend, according to Israeli and US officials. It includes heavy American bombing of Iran. According to a unnamed US official who spoke to Hersh all will be “under control” if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “departs.”.
US needed a delay according to Hersh in order to give US military assets throughout the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean—there are more than two dozen US Air Force bases and Navy ports in the region—a chance to prepare for possible Iranian retaliation.
The most serious direct challenge to this project which can have catastrophic consequences for the United States themselves is the possible reaction of Russia.
WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD IS COMING IN IRAN
By Seymour Hersh
Jun 19, 2025
This is a report on what is most likely to happen in Iran, as early as this weekend, according to Israeli insiders and American officials I’ve relied upon for decades. It will entail heavy American bombing. I have vetted this report with a longtime US official in Washington, who told me that all will be “under control” if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “departs.” Just how that might happen, short of his assassination, is not known. There has been a great deal of talk about American firepower and targets inside Iran, but little practical thinking, as far I can tell, about how to remove a revered religious leader with an enormous following.
I have reported from afar on the nuclear and foreign policy of Israel for decades. My 1991 book The Samson Option told the story of the making of the Israeli nuclear bomb and America’s willingness to keep the project secret. The most important unanswered question about the current situation will be the response of the world, including that of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who has been an ally of Iran’s leaders.
The United States remains Israel’s most important ally, although many here and around the world abhor Israel’s continuing murderous war in Gaza. The Trump administration is in full support of Israel’s current plan to rid Iran of any trace of a nuclear weapons program while hoping the ayatollah-led government in Tehran will be overthrown.
Continue reading at seymourhersh.substack.com
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