Also, forgot who it was that referenced Chernobyl but holy shit, spot on. I am getting the exact same vibe. Everyone in the high echelons of power running around screaming and pointing fingers.
Years back, I had a copy of Delta Force -- no, not the movie, you faggots -- which was a book written by Charlie Beckwith, the guy who'd founded SFOD-D. This mess jogged my memory (unsurprisingly). When the Iranians decided to take our embassy and the personnel there hostage, Beckwith gets called in to start brainstorming a plan to get them out.
Well, Beckwith may have been a character (this assessment comes from a former Green Beret who knew the guy), but he wasn't stupid. He grabs a map and starts looking for weak spots to infiltrate/exfiltrate. While he's doing that he calls in a CIA glownigger and asks him if they have any current intel.
Turns out the CIA didn't have ANY humint (human intelligence assets, aka PEOPLE) in Iran. Like, at ALL.
That's the same feel I get from this. Complete fucking amateurs playing at the game of thrones, terminally unprepared.