Ray McGovern, a 27-year CIA veteran who prepared presidential daily briefs, gave a wide-ranging interview to Glenn Diessen, arguing that the war on Iran was engineered by Israel, is going badly for the U.S.-Israeli side, and carries a genuine risk of nuclear weapons escalation.
On the war’s origins, McGovern was unambiguous: Israel attacked Iran knowing it would trigger U.S. involvement, and U.S. Secretary of State Rubio has effectively admitted as much. The attack came within hours of the Omani foreign minister—who had been mediating talks in Geneva—telling the U.S. vice president that a nuclear deal was nearly complete, with Iran making significant concessions including on enrichment. McGovern believes Witkoff and Kushner either lied to President Donald Trump about the state of negotiations, or were used as cutouts to enable the attack.
On the war’s trajectory, McGovern argued Iran has the upper hand militarily, the Gulf states’ confidence in U.S. security guarantees has been shattered, and regime change is off the table—the new Supreme Leader, who lost his wife and son in the strike that killed his father, has no incentive for concessions. He quoted Colin Powell’s former chief of staff Larry Wilkerson on the folly of putting an Air Force general in charge of the Joint Chiefs: “All they know is bombing.”
