Was the US assault on Iran predicted simply days earlier than? Ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou’s stunning warning | World Information
As Washington and Tehran commerce strikes within the aftermath of Operation Epic Fury, consideration has turned to feedback made simply days earlier than the offensive by former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who publicly steered {that a} US assault on Iran was imminent. On 28 February 2026, the US and Israel launched what President Donald Trump described as “main fight operations” focusing on Iran’s missile and nuclear infrastructure. Posting on Fact Social, Trump declared: “we’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile trade to the bottom,” including that the target was to “be certain that Iran doesn’t receive a nuclear weapon.”The strikes come amid longstanding tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program. Western governments accuse the Islamic Republic of in search of to amass nuclear weapons, a cost Iranian officers have repeatedly denied. Tehran maintains that its nuclear actions are meant solely for civilian functions and insists on its proper to complement uranium below worldwide agreements.
This photograph supplied by the White Home which has been partially blurred, reveals President Donald Trump speaking with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White Home chief of employees Susie Wiles at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Seaside, Fla., throughout Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (Daniel Torok/The White Home through AP)
The joint assault resulted in widespread harm and important civilian casualties, together with at the least 153 individuals and youngsters reportedly killed after a strike hit a college in Minab. Iran’s Supreme Chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, was confirmed lifeless following missile strikes round Tehran.In response, Iran launched retaliatory assaults throughout Israel and Gulf states together with Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, whereas army and civilian targets, together with an American naval base in Bahrain and Dubai Worldwide Airport, had been struck. Airport closures in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha left 1000’s stranded. Six days earlier than these strikes started, Kiriakou stated on a podcast {that a} choice had already been made in Washington to assault.
The 22 February warning
Kiriakou appeared on the Julian Dorey Podcast, recorded on Friday and launched on Sunday, 22 February 2026. The programme, often known as Trendifieris hosted by American YouTuber and podcaster Julian Dorey and options long-form interviews with company from safety, intelligence and political backgrounds. Throughout the episode, Kiriakou stated he had acquired data from a former colleague who had visited the White Home that morning. “I’ve a pal, former CIA officer, who was on the White Home this morning speaking to his buddies, and he says {that a} choice has been made to assault Iran on Monday or Tuesday,” he stated. He was referring to 23–24 February, 4 to 5 days earlier than Operation Epic Fury was finally launched on 28 February. Kiriakou additionally urged viewers to not take President Trump’s public deadlines at face worth. On the time, Trump had given Iran a 10-day window to adjust to US calls for, together with ending its ballistic missile programme, halting uranium enrichment and ceasing help for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
On this photograph launched on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, by the Atomic Vitality Group of Iran, President Masoud Pezeshkian visits the nation’s nuclear achievements throughout his tour to the Atomic Vitality Group in Tehran, Iran. AP/PTI(AP11_02_2025_000149A)
“The president yesterday gave the Iranians 10 days to simply accept our proposals for an finish to their ballistic missile programme, an finish to their uranium enrichment programme, an finish to supporting teams within the Center East like Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis. However he is executed this earlier than,” Kiriakou stated. He continued: “Properly, he’ll provide you with 10 days, he’ll provide you with two weeks, after which he’ll simply assault two days into it. He thinks that that retains individuals off steadiness.” Kiriakou additionally steered that different high-profile bulletins might function distractions from impending army choices. Referring to the administration’s announcement that it could launch UFO-related information, he stated: “In all probability partly, yeah. About them saying they are going to launch the UFO information final evening, which I’ve wished launched ceaselessly, however the timing.”
Divisions inside Washington
In the identical interview, Kiriakou described what he stated had been inner divisions throughout the administration. “He stated that there are battle strains, that the anti-war forces are JD Vance and Tulsi Gabbard,” Kiriakou stated, including that the pro-intervention aspect was “led by Marco Rubio and consists of Pete Hegseth and now the Joint Chiefs of Employees.” Expressing shock on the reported place of the Joint Chiefs, he linked it to personnel modifications over the previous yr. “Trump has changed all the Joint Chiefs this yr, this previous, prior to now 12 months, which I had forgotten,” he stated. “He promoted those that he knew could be politically loyal.”
Individually, the Jerusalem Put upciting a disclosure from The New York Instancesreported that a whole lot of US personnel had been moved from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, alongside repositioning at American services in Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, a build-up that preceded the strikes.
A previous warning on TikTok
Kiriakou had additionally spoken publicly concerning the dangers of escalation weeks earlier. In a TikTok clip recorded roughly a month earlier than the strikes, he mentioned regional considerations about President Trump’s unpredictability. Whereas the start of the video was cropped, Kiriakou described a dialog with somebody from an Emirati authorities who was, in his phrases, “genuinely apprehensive” as a result of they “simply cannot learn Donald Trump.” He recalled a reporter asking the president who his advisers had been, to which Trump reportedly replied: “I haven’t got any advisors, I simply do no matter my intestine tells me to do.” Kiriakou stated that this unpredictability was contributing to regional instability, including that “the Iranians are scrambling, as a result of they do not know what to anticipate both.”
Autos drive previous a billboard depicting a broken U.S. plane service with disabled fighter jets on its deck and an indication studying in Farsi and English, “When you sow the wind, you may reap the whirlwind,” at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) Sq. in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Picture/Vahid Salemi)
He additionally recounted a dialog with retired colonel Douglas Macgregor about Iran’s army capabilities, significantly hypersonic missiles. “The Iranians have hypersonics, the Chinese language and the Russians gave them the know-how they usually developed it internally, domestically. An plane service is the scale of a metropolis, it has 25,000 sailors on it, are you able to think about in the event that they sank a kind of issues? And even simply broken it to the purpose it could should be towed into the port for 2 years’ price of repairs, I simply see nothing good coming from an armed battle with Iran.”
Who’s John Kiriakou?
Kiriakou served within the CIA from 1990 to 2004 and visited 72 international locations throughout his tenure. He grew to become Chief of Counterterrorist Operations in Pakistan and was concerned in efforts to seize al-Qaeda members. He later grew to become a whistleblower, publicly revealing the CIA’s use of waterboarding. In 2012, he was convicted of passing categorized data to the media and sentenced to 30 months in jail. Since his launch, he has been a vocal critic of what he describes as Washington’s interventionist international coverage. His feedback on 22 February didn’t specify the exact timing or scope of any operation, however his assertion {that a} choice had been made to assault Iran inside days preceded the 28 February launch of Operation Epic Fury by lower than every week.