Saletan: No, There Was No 'Imminent Threat' From Iran [View all]

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-rubio-hegseth-iran-war-imminent-threat


DONALD TRUMP SAYS his preemptive attack on Iran was justified, in accordance with international law, because Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States. In his speech announcing the operation, he declared, “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”

But the threats posed by Iran to the United States, while potentially serious, weren’t imminent. So Trump and his officials have redefined “imminent” to include distant, indirect, and theoretical risks. They’ve stretched the word beyond any semblance of its meaning.

Here’s what now constitutes an imminent threat, according to the Trump administration and its congressional allies.

1. Imminent can mean “eventually” or “one day.”

On Sunday, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Sen. Lindsey Graham, “What specifically were the imminent threats that justified this operation?” Graham replied, “They were building ballistic missiles that could eventually reach the United States.”

Then, at a briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that “Iran does pose an imminent and direct threat,” in part because it aimed to develop nuclear weapons that could “pose a risk to Americans in the region and even Americans one day here at home.”

One day. Eventually. If that’s imminent, then everything is imminent.

*snip*