As is known, on Friday Iran attacked a US military base in Jordan, resulting in the deaths of two American soldiers. On Saturday, the story repeated itself – but this time in Iraq.
There, due to a “controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance” from a downed Iranian drone, a soldier also died.
US President Donald Trump called the first two deaths a “very sad event,” and in an interview with NewsNation emphasized that he “doesn’t care at all” that Iran will no longer adhere to the bilateral memorandum of understanding.
“The US is planning a larger-scale war,” said one American official in a comment to The Washington Post, adding that the Pentagon is already increasing the number of military aircraft in the region.
However, the official warned that the expansion of US operations will be limited due to decreasing air defense systems and long-range weapons stockpiles.
Additionally, the US faces restrictions on the ability to transfer additional forces and aircraft to this region due to losses suffered during combat operations.
“We do not have enough resources to safely carry out operations, and I don’t think the White House realizes this,” the source worried.
Military experts estimate that American equipment and ammunition stocks are running low, and the United States is not prepared for a possible ground operation in Iran. This is an operation whose possibility D. Trump last week refused to rule out.
“I think it would be a mistake to deploy ground forces on any strait island or shore,” said Seth Jones, head of the Defense and Security Department at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I don’t think US forces are ready to withstand Iranian forces’ strikes from afar.”
Over the weekend, the news portal Axios reported that the US President D. Trump’s administration informed Israel of its plans to send dozens of additional American refueling aircraft to the country.
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US and Israeli sources told journalists that it is likely that Washington is preparing for a possible expansion of military operations against Iran.
Events on the Iranian war front in June gave hope when the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that extended the ceasefire and opened the way for negotiations on the issues that started the war.
However, at the beginning of July, Iran struck ships in the Strait of Hormuz, after which the US responded with strikes against Iran. Later, both sides began exchanging strikes daily, involving other Persian Gulf countries in this chaos.
In turn, D. Trump declared that the ceasefire was over, and the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that it would no longer fulfill its obligations under the bilateral agreement.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner said on the show This Week that he sees no way this conflict could be resolved in the near future.
“This war, started voluntarily, has become a disaster. It was a disaster militarily. It was a disaster in terms of how the world views us,” he said bluntly.
The deaths of US soldiers also raised questions about the safety of American forces at bases in the Middle East. Besides the 17 – possibly 18 – US soldiers killed during military operations against Iran, more than 430 were injured.
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