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On June 22, President Donald Trump ordered<\/a> military strikes against Iran. The attacks targeted<\/a> three nuclear sites, including the notoriously fortified Fordow uranium enrichment facility. Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s lead, the United States carried out the attacks with minimal collateral damage and no American casualties. Still, they were a mistake.\u00a0<\/p>\n Let\u2019s begin with the pretext for war. Netanyahu claimed<\/a> that an Iranian nuclear weapon was just around the corner. The White House concurred<\/a>, setting the timetable for a potential Iranian nuclear weapon at a couple of weeks. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took it even further, warning<\/a> of mushroom clouds over New York City and Los Angeles. This all sounds terrifying; thankfully, it\u2019s wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n After the strikes, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, denied<\/a> having proof of Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon. The same goes for Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, who testified<\/a> in front of Congress that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Gabbard went on to affirm the U.S. intelligence community\u2019s belief that the program was dormant since its suspension in 2003.\u00a0<\/p>\n Netanyahu and his supporters in the White House engaged in semantic trickery. Saying Iran could <\/em>produce a nuclear weapon did not mean they were producing one, although the effect was the same: Widespread support<\/a> for military action. In reality, Iran enriched uranium to concerning levels<\/a>, but the jump to a nuclear weapon required further technical innovations.<\/p>\n