Ex-CIA Spy Questions Iran War Justification
Former CIA operative Andrew Bustamante is raising alarms about the justification for military action against Iran. He points to a March 2025 intelligence report stating Iran is *not* developing WMDs, which directly contradicts the administration's rationale for its bombing campaign. Bustamante suggests the conflict may be more about political posturing than a genuine security threat.
The current bombing campaign, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury," follows an earlier, limited engagement in June 2025 known as the "Twelve-Day War." That conflict saw Israel attack Iranian targets, followed by U.S. strikes, code-named "Operation Midnight Hammer," which targeted three major Iranian nuclear facilities with bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk missiles. A March 2025 U.S. Intelligence Community assessment concluded that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. This assessment was later affirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which, as of May 2025, had "no credible indications of an ongoing, undeclared structured nuclear programme" in Iran. Furthermore, a 2025 Defense Intelligence Agency report projected that Iran could not develop a militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) until 2035 at the earliest, and only with a determined effort. The U.S. intelligence community has made similar long-range forecasts for nearly three decades. The military action escalates pressure on an already collapsing Iranian economy. Following the snapback of UN sanctions in September 2025, Iran's currency has plummeted and inflation has skyrocketed to over 40%. The World Bank now projects the nation's economy will contract by 2.8% in 2026. This economic crisis has fueled significant domestic unrest. Mass protests, the largest since 2022, erupted across the country in late 2025, driven by rampant inflation and unemployment, with some estimates placing half the population below the poverty line. Andrew Bustamante served for seven years as a covert intelligence officer in the CIA's National Clandestine Service after a career as a nuclear ICBM operations officer in the U.S. Air Force. He now runs EverydaySpy, a private intelligence training and consulting company.
