Sy Hersh: What I have been told is coming in Iran. Posted on 6/19/25 at 2:10 pm
Let's see if the old man is right. He says in some other parts behind the paywall that the Israelis hope Khamenei flees; bringing back the Shah's son is not planned; there is hope elements of the Azeri community will join in a popular revolt and/or members of the Revolutionary Guard would join in an uprising.
quote: This is a report on what is most likely to happen in Iran, as early as this weekend, according to Israeli insiders and American officials I’ve relied upon for decades. It will entail heavy American bombing. I have vetted this report with a longtime US official in Washington, who told me that all will be “under control” if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “departs.” Just how that might happen, short of his assassination, is not known. There has been a great deal of talk about American firepower and targets inside Iran, but little practical thinking, as far I can tell, about how to remove a revered religious leader with an enormous following.
I have reported from afar on the nuclear and foreign policy of Israel for decades. My 1991 book The Samson Option told the story of the making of the Israeli nuclear bomb and America’s willingness to keep the project secret. The most important unanswered question about the current situation will be the response of the world, including that of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who has been an ally of Iran’s leaders.
The United States remains Israel’s most important ally, although many here and around the world abhor Israel’s continuing murderous war in Gaza. The Trump administration is in full support of Israel’s current plan to rid Iran of any trace of a nuclear weapons program while hoping the ayatollah-led government in Tehran will be overthrown.
I have been told that the White House has signed off on an all-out bombing campaign in Iran, but the ultimate targets, the centrifuges buried at least eighty meters below the surface at Fordow, will, as of this writing, not be struck until the weekend. The delay has come at Trump’s insistence because the president wants the shock of the bombing to be diminished as much as possible by the opening of Wall Street trading on Monday. (Trump took issue on social media this morning with a Wall Street Journal report that said he had decided on the attack on Iran, writing that he had yet to decide on a path forward.)
quote: The delay will give US military assets throughout the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean—there are more than two dozen US Air Force bases and Navy ports in the region—a chance to prepare for possible Iranian retaliation. The assumption is that Iran still has some missile and air force capability that will be on US bombing lists. “This is a chance to do away with this regime once and for all,” an informed official told me today, “and so we might as well go big.” He said, however, “that it will not be carpet bombing.”
The planned weekend bombing will also have new targets: the bases of the Republican Guards, which have countered those campaigning against the revolutionary leadership since the violent overthrow of the shah of Iran in early 1979.
The Israeli leadership under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes that the bombings will provide “the means of creating an uprising” against Iran’s current regime, which has shown little tolerance for those who defy the religious leadership and its edicts. Iranian police stations will be struck. Government offices that house files on suspected dissenters in Iran will also be attacked.
DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics 🇺🇸🇮🇱⚔️🇮🇷 American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in his latest Substack article wrote:
A major U.S. bombing campaign against Iran is expected to begin as early as this weekend, according to (his trusted) Israeli and American sources.
Approved by the Trump administration, the strikes will focus on key military and nuclear infrastructure, including the fortified Fordow facility, where Iran’s most advanced centrifuges are located deep underground. The delay in timing, Hersh reports, is due to Trump’s desire to avoid disrupting U.S. markets when trading opens Monday.
The operation goes beyond targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities—it aims to destabilize the country's leadership. U.S. and Israeli planners are counting on internal unrest to break out, hoping that strikes on military bases, police stations, and administrative centers will incite broader opposition. Hersh says there are even unconfirmed reports that Ayatollah Khamenei may have left Tehran.
While some in Washington favor installing a moderate religious figure to lead the country in a transitional phase, Israeli officials reportedly reject this, pushing instead for full political control through a loyal replacement. These internal disagreements reflect a deeper divide over what post-strike Iran should look like. Intelligence circles are also looking to Iran’s ethnic minorities—particularly Azeris with alleged CIA ties—as potential tools to spark wider dissent.
The plan, according to Hersh, bears resemblance to previous Western interventions in Libya and Syria, where external pressure led to long-term instability and suffering. The attack on Iran, he warns, could have similar consequences, potentially fragmenting the country and inflaming the region—all while being driven by Netanyahu’s strategic aims and Trump’s desire for a major geopolitical “win.”Tell your story; Ask a question; Interpret generously http://storybythethroat.wordpress.com/tell-ask-listen/
Re: Sy Hersh: What I have been told is coming in Iran: Ta for the heads-up
the usual host of "analysts" whose track record of prediction is pretty dismal (Ritter for example being terrible although Escobar is pretty bad too).
The usual concern with Hersh is that he can be used as a hangout option or be fed false information that "they" want out there, but it doesn't seem to happen very often and certainly hasn't in this case.The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide. Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.
on June 19, 2025, 11:51 pm