Ex-Trump envoy makes case for Iran attack - Harvard Gazette

"The war with Iran is not about regime change but rather an effort to protect Americans from a nuclear threat, according to Morgan Ortagus, who until recently served as deputy U.S. special envoy to the Middle East and special envoy to Lebanon under ambassador Steve Witkoff."

"The strikes by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 were not triggered by one specific event, but a 'culmination of threats' from Iran and years of failed diplomatic efforts by both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, according to Ortagus, who served as a State Department spokesperson during the first Trump administration."

"Among the threats she cited were the Iranian regime's decades of malign influence in the Middle East, its continuing nuclear ambitions, the escalation of threats to U.S. bases and those of U.S. allies in the region, and plots to assassinate President Trump, former national security adviser John Bolton, and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo."

Morgan Ortagus, former deputy U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, defended military strikes against Iran as necessary to protect Americans from nuclear threats rather than pursuing regime change. She characterized the February 28 strikes as a response to a culmination of Iranian threats spanning decades, including nuclear ambitions, regional malign influence, and assassination plots against U.S. officials. Ortagus noted that despite Trump's willingness to negotiate with Iran before the conflict, the regime was perceived as uncooperative. She dismissed criticism of the administration's military actions and expressed no sympathy for eliminated Iranian leadership, describing them as perpetrators of torture and mass executions.

Read at Harvard Gazette