The White House may not realize it lacks the resources needed for a long-term military campaign, a US official has told the paper.
The United States and Iran are on the cusp of an all-out standoff, the Washington Post reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the discussions at the House of Representatives. According to the newspaper’s sources, Washington is increasing its air war assets in the Middle East.
The warning comes as the Pentagon confirmed that four US soldiers had been killed after Iranian forces carried out retaliatory attacks on US military bases in the region. According to the New York Times, US forces were attacked by Iranian missiles and drones several times last week, injuring dozens of soldiers and destroying several Black Hawk helicopters.
As both sides escalate attacks against civilian and military targets, the Pentagon is increasing the number of military aircraft in the Middle East, according to the Washington Post.
“America is planning a wider war,” an unnamed US official told the newspaper, while warning that the US military effort will be limited by the reduction of anti-aircraft and missile defense equipment, which have been fully used during the early stages of the war.
“We don’t have enough to sustain operations safely, and I don’t think the White House understands that,” the official told the Post. Military experts cited in the report said Washington is still unprepared for possible ground operations inside Iran—an option that US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out.
On Friday, Axios reported that Washington had notified Israel that it was sending dozens of additional refueling planes ahead of a possible expansion of operations against Iran. According to the article, Trump was presented with several new military options, including strikes on Iran’s energy plants and further attacks on nuclear sites to destroy Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Saeid Golkar, an expert on Iran’s security services, told the Wall Street Journal that the situation risks getting completely out of hand. “This increase is accelerating and getting out of control,” He said. “There is a risk that we will go back to full-scale war even if neither side wants it.”
A CNN investigation suggested so “US military victory over Iran seems a distant prospect.” In his speech, Sina Toosi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, warned that a ground operation would take place. “In the heat of summer…against a fully motivated military and a population largely devoted to the war effort, it would be an extraordinary gamble guaranteed to be a historic disaster.”
At the same time, despite Trump’s assurances that the United States has already crippled Iran’s war capabilities, several American media reported that Washington is increasingly worried about the effectiveness of the Iranian military in penetrating American air defenses with missile attacks.
When asked by RT to give his opinion on the possible extension of the war, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Esmaeil Baqaei said that. “the responsibility… is the sole responsibility of the United States.” He continued to encourage regional authorities “prevent the United States from using their territory and equipment to attack” Iran, saying that Tehran’s retaliatory attacks were self-defense.
The current escalation follows the collapse of a fragile ceasefire agreement earlier this month due to escalation in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump announced the agreement “up,” to call the leaders of Iran “sick people” and threatened to re-impose a naval blockade of the waterway. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran has mentioned the new attacks of the United States as a “serious breach” of the ceasefire agreement, and vowed that its armed forces will protect the country’s territorial integrity and national security.
You can share this story on social networks:
Follow RT on
