Trump Fears Creating ‘Another Libya’ If Iran Regime Falls: Report
(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser/file)
President Donald Trump is delaying a decision on joining Israel’s military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities because he fears creating “another Libya” if it triggers a regime collapse, according to a report.
The hesitation comes despite increasing pressure from both Israeli leadership and Trump’s own cabinet to act swiftly against Iran’s underground enrichment plants at Fordow and Natanz. Instead, behind-the-scenes, the president has reportedly invoked Libya as a cautionary tale of how U.S.-led interventions can backfire.
One insider told the New York Post that Trump “doesn’t want it to turn into Libya,” pointing to the vacuum left after the NATO-backed ousting of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, which saw the oil-rich nation disintegrate into civil war and Islamic State brutality.
“Libya was a much more extended kind of bombing commitment, and it ended up being regime change,” another source noted. “If the regime falls [in Iran], then it’s not on Trump, because that’s not the goal of his very limited strike.”
Trump is now weighing the option of deploying 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs, which Israel cannot deliver independently, to take out Iran’s fortified nuclear sites. But the risk, one source said, is “we get somebody worse than Khamenei.”
While Israel’s Defense Minister openly called for regime change, branding Khamenei “the modern Hitler,” Trump appears unconvinced that removing the Iranian supreme leader would lead to stability or that it would sit well with American voters.
“There is still dealing with Iran’s response,” said another source, pointing to fears of a wider regional war, contamination, and terror reprisals. “He’d rather have a deal.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday that the president would decide “within the next two weeks.”
Meanwhile, UK and European leaders have seized on a potential diplomatic opening and will initiate talks with Iran in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff will not be attending.
