Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst Larry Johnson alleged that US President Donald Trump considered using the nuclear option against Iran, but backed down after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine responded with a firm no.
Details of the Allegation
Trump was seriously entertaining and asking about the use of a nuclear weapon. And General Caine, to his credit, said, Absolutely not very firmly. So there was discussion around the use of nuclear weapons, Johnson told ANI.
He further claimed that following Caines objection, Trump publicly stated that nuclear weapons would not be used. It (nuclear proposal) was shot down by General Caine, and that's the reason that Donald Trump later came out and admitted in the meeting, no, no, no, we're never going to use a nuke. Good. Got that off the table. Later, we got confirmation that the issue of using a nuke had come up. That was discussed, and it was shot down by General Caine, he added.
Chain of Command
Explaining the chain of command, Johnson noted that Trump, as Commander-in-Chief, could have ordered the use of nuclear weapons, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is not formally part of the operational chain of command. Its not so much a veto power as the role of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. By law, he (Caine) is the president's senior military advisor. Now, the chain of command for using a nuke is if Trump ordered it, it would then go to the general that's in charge of what's called STRATCOM, the former CIA analyst explained. And he (Trump) would go through the Secretary of Defense, or Secretary of War (Pete Hegseth) now, and then from Secretary of War to the general that commands the STRATCOM. The STRATCOM would be responsible for executing that.
Johnson argued that such a decision, however, could have led Caine to resign in protest if his advice had been ignored. And, you know, the implication in that is if Trump actually tried to go forward or something like that, you can see possible resignations by Chairman Caine. You just say, no, this is outside the bounds. Its unacceptable. Its an actual military consideration. General Caine wasn't expressing a political view, he stated.
Context of the Allegation
Trumps Truth Social post on April 7 triggered fears that the US could resort to nuclear action against Iran. A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will, the Republican leader wrote on his social media platform. However, the following day he announced a ceasefire that continues to be in place. The Middle East war began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
The United States remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons in warfare, dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II in August 1945.
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