President Donald Trump was unprepared for the “time bomb” at the Strait of Hormuz because he believed the war with Iran would end in just days, or even hours, The Daily Beast reported, citing intelligence sources.

Prior to launching the attack, Mr. Trump was warned by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and advisors that Tehran would almost certainly blockade the Strait of Hormuz if attacked. Simultaneously, U.S. allies in the Middle East could also become targets of retaliation..

However, according to intelligence sources, Mr. Trump dismissed these warnings because he believed the Iranian people would rise up to overthrow the government as soon as the airstrikes began.

He believed the military campaign would proceed quickly: just hours, days, or at most a week, after which the Iranian people would “do the rest.” But that uprising did not occur.

Prior to the campaign dubbed “Epic Fury,” the CIA had even deployed a covert operation intended to provide weapons to a major opposition group in Iran. However, these weapons never reached the intended forces.

Nevertheless, Mr. Trump maintained absolute confidence in the uprising scenario. One official stated that he believed previous protests in Iran could spread and topple the government. He also compared the situation to Venezuela, arguing that simply removing the leader would be enough for regime change.

This reasoning was reinforced by the fact that, in a video posted on Truth Social while announcing the start of airstrikes on Iran, Mr. Trump called on the country’s citizens to “take back your government” and promised strong U.S. backing. However, after the attacks, although a portion of the Iranian leadership was eliminated, the large-scale protest wave seen earlier in the year did not recur.

This calculative error left the U.S. without a contingency plan to prevent the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz or to deal with the surge in global energy prices.

Mr. Trump himself admitted the arms supply operation failed. In an impromptu remark, he stated that the weapons sent were withheld by the receiving group itself, rather than being used against the Iranian government.

Experts warned that underestimating the role of the Strait of Hormuz was a grave mistake. This is a strategic shipping route that carries nearly one-quarter of the global oil supply, and any conflict here could shock energy markets.

Professor Caitlin Talmadge stated that Iran has long prepared for this scenario, with asymmetric naval capabilities consisting of thousands of sea mines, small submarines, and fast attack craft that can be deployed rapidly in the region. The mere capability to lay mines is enough to make tankers wary, disrupting the global flow of energy.

Meanwhile, world attention is now focused on the risk of disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, rather than Iran’s internal issues such as human rights violations.

The uprising that Washington expected did not happen. Instead, the Iranian people face severe consequences from the U.S. attacks.