- Covert operation to overthrow Iran's regime was allegedly compromised from the highest levels.
- Former inspector claims Trump, Netanyahu, and Graham planned it at Mar-a-Lago.
- The entire spy network was allegedly exposed and destroyed in the failure.
- Ritter claims Trump may have deliberately sabotaged it to silence war hawks.
- The claims highlight perilous shadow warfare and potential betrayal among allies.
A stunning allegation has emerged that a covert, multi-national operation to overthrow Iran’s regime was compromised and potentially deliberately sabotaged from the highest level. According to former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, a plan years in the making was “cooked up at Mar-a-Lago” between President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Senator Lindsey Graham, only to be blown apart, destroying a spy network built over decades. The central, troubling question Ritter poses is whether this catastrophic failure was mere blunder or a calculated “setup.”
Ritter, appearing on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “Judging Freedom” podcast, laid out a detailed claim. He stated the operation involved “extensive planning going on between the Mossad, the CIA, British intelligence, Dutch intelligence, and every intelligence agency in the world that has been lined up against the Iranians.” Yet, he asserts, “The United States didn’t pull the trigger until it was too late.” In Ritter’s view, “Trump knew what he was doing.”
A network wiped out
The consequence, Ritter said, was absolute. The entire covert apparatus was exposed and rolled up. “The Mossad network that was used is gone, finished,” he stated. He described a desperate attempt to re-establish communications using new Starlink kits, claiming “the Iranians were just sitting there waiting for them to come in.” Ritter credited the counter-operation to a compromised code, alleging “the Iranians broke the code, got in there thanks to the help of Russia, by the way.” His conclusion was dramatic: “It took decades to build that network up. It’s gone.”
Ritter directly accused Trump of orchestrating the failure. “It seems to me that Trump set up Lindsey Graham, set up Netanyahu—set them all up—because they shot their bolt,” he argued. He dismissed Graham’s subsequent attempts to deflect blame, insisting, “It’s 100% Donald Trump’s fault.” Ritter’s analysis frames the event as a potential move by Trump to neuter persistent hawkish pressure for direct regime change in Tehran. “Was this deliberate… a setup… so that Netanyahu and Graham and everybody else stop talking to him about overthrowing the Iranian regime, because they no longer have the tools to do so?”
Weighing the claims
Evaluating Ritter’s charges requires examining his background and the available evidence. Ritter is a controversial figure, known for his early and vocal opposition to the Iraq War and for analyses often viewed as sympathetic to Russian and Iranian perspectives. His claims here are speculative, relying on interpretation rather than publicly verifiable documents or on-the-record confirmations from involved intelligence agencies. Senator Graham has not addressed these specific allegations, though he has publicly blamed Iranian counterintelligence for recent setbacks.
The historical context is critical. This allegation follows the so-called “12-Day War” last June, where Israeli strikes significantly degraded Iranian military and nuclear assets. That conflict exposed regime vulnerabilities and fueled ongoing internal protests. In this tense environment, the loss of any major intelligence network would represent a severe strategic blow, crippling the ability to influence events or monitor nuclear activities from within Iran.
If true, Ritter’s scenario suggests a shocking betrayal of allied intelligence services and the weaponization of state secrets for internal political management. It paints a picture of a leader potentially willing to sacrifice long-term strategic assets to quiet domestic political nagging, a move that would prioritize short-term convenience over national and allied security. The implications for trust in future intelligence sharing are profound.
This story unfolds alongside public calls for extreme escalation from figures like Senator Graham himself. In a recent Fox News interview, Graham appealed directly to Trump, stating, “If I were you, Mr. President, I would kill the leadership that are killing the people.” He labeled Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei “the modern-day Hitler” and argued that assassinating him would cause peace to break out. This rhetoric highlights the intense pressure for direct action that Ritter claims Trump may have sought to sideline.
The ultimate takeaway is a vision of shadow warfare fraught with peril and potential deceit. It underscores that the most significant battles are often fought invisibly, in the realm of codes and assets, and that their outcomes can hinge on the conflicting agendas of leaders rather than the skill of operatives. Whether one accepts Ritter’s specific accusation or not, his narrative forces a sobering consideration of how covert policy is made and broken, and who ultimately pays the price when decades of patient work are erased in a moment of exposure.
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