“In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it,” Trump has said. Iran remains defiant in the face of ultimatums, pledging unprecedented retaliation to any attack.

Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain
Feb 18, 2026

A former senior U.S. intelligence official who is an informal advisor to the Trump administration on Middle East policy told Drop Site that, based on his discussions with current officials, he assesses an 80-90% likelihood of U.S. strikes within weeks.

Iran realizes that it is facing an unprecedented threat from the U.S. if a deal that conforms with Trump’s terms is not reached, former Pentagon official Jasmine El-Gamal told Drop Site. “This is not a dress rehearsal,” she said. “This is it. This is not the negotiations of last year or the year before or the year before that. They’re backed into a corner. There’s no off ramp.”

  • luciferofastora@feddit.org
    1·
    4 hours ago

    That’s a “active hostile invasion on our soil makes organised civil processes impossible” thing, if anything. How the hell are the people in occupied territory gonna queue up to vote? How would you validate and count the ballots? How would the displaced refugees receive and submit their ballots?

    The whole thing would be so ripe with opportunities for interference that you couldn’t trust the results. Why hold it?

    But also, Parliament votes every 90 days to confirm that martial law still applies, so it’s not like President Zelenskyy is just doing so on his own whims.