Trump forced Iran to blink – That’s no small feat and makes all of us safer
Although senior Pentagon officials and Vice President Pence have said Iran’s missile attack was intended to kill U.S. servicemen, Iranian leaders withheld their better, more accurate missiles and fired about a dozen that they knew would fall short of their targets. In addition, there are reports that Iran sent messages through diplomatic channels warning the U.S. and Iraq about this attack in advance.
Although senior Pentagon officials and Vice President Pence have said Iran’s missile attack was intended to kill U.S. servicemen, Iranian leaders withheld their better, more accurate missiles and fired about a dozen that they knew would fall short of their targets. In addition, there are reports that Iran sent messages through diplomatic channels warning the U.S. and Iraq about this attack in advance.
Iran has thousands of ballistic missiles, drone and cruise missiles. Iran’s September 14, 2019 attack with drones and cruise missiles against Saudi Arabian oil facilities indicated that the accuracy of Iran’s missile arsenal has vastly improved when 17 out of 19 hit their targets and did significant damage.
Joby Warrick said in a January 7 Washington Post column that there has been a “quantum change” in the capabilities of Iran’s missiles and U.S. analysts have seen “evidence of a vastly improved arsenal of high-precision missiles.” So why did Iran launch such a feckless attack against U.S. forces this week?
It appears the missile attack was a face-saving show of force for domestic consumption and the missiles were intended to miss their targets because Iranian leaders feared how President Trump would respond to an attack that killed U.S. or Iraqi citizens.
There’s no question what is going on here: President Trump drew a red line that Iranian attacks that kill U.S. citizens will be met with a devastating U.S. response. His decision not to respond militarily to the threat last night’s missile attack posed to American forces was a calculated gamble that Iran’s warnings indicated this attack was a ploy by Iran’s leaders for domestic consumption and to deescalate tensions with the U.S.
President Trump reflected this in his statement Wednesday that “Iran appears to be standing down.” But the president also made clear that he also will not tolerate this aggression which endangered the lives of Americans and Iraqis. He added: “As we continue to evaluate response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime.”
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