President Donald Trump claims that the U.S. bombing of three sites in Iran over the weekend successfully eliminated that country’s nuclear program. But one local expert suggests this may lead to justifying more use of emergency powers.
The U.S. Defense secretary says the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s ambitions to build nuclear weapons.
But Daniel Rothenberg with ASU’s Center on the Future of War says putting this pressure on the regime is unlikely to dissuade them from advancing their nuclear program, and historically diplomacy has been more successful. He also suggests another factor:
“We’ve already seen the administration use war-like situations to justify a variety of actions, you know emergency powers, this is the underlying justification for Trump tariffs and for all kinds of other actions so imagine if we were really in a war? To some degree, we are," Rothenberg said.
Rothenberg also says it’s not clear what the bombing has accomplished. And there are reports the enriched uranium may have been moved prior to the bombings.
