Events in the Middle East continue to grow more and more complicated. Operation Epic Fury/Roaring Lion has American and Israeli forces still pummeling Iranian installations and infrastructure, while President Trump is reportedly mulling over the possibility of ground operations – perhaps to remove Iran’s stockpiles of nuclear material.
Things are growing complicated in the Middle East. First, on the uranium issue:
President Trump is considering a military operation to send US soldiers inside Iran to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, officials said.
Trump is open to the idea of sending the troops into Iran for days or longer to complete the mission, but the president is considering the risks to American soldiers, US officials familiar with the plan told the Wall Street Journal.
As he weighs the dangers of the operation, Trump has encouraged his advisers to pressure Iran to agree to give up its atomic material as a condition for ending the war, according to the outlet.’
It would be best if Iran agreed to give up the material on their own, but then, there’s the matter of trust; the current regime simply can’t be relied on to honestly disclose how much fissile material they have or where it all is. And it’s not at all clear a ground forces operation could capture all of it; the regime in Iran has almost certainly dispersed their stocks by now.
The Trump administration does reportedly have more troops moving into the theater, including Army Rangers and Marines, all people who you would want involved in any such operation.
Hundreds of U.S. Special Operations Forces, including Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, are now in the Middle East, as well as thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers, according to sources familiar with the deployments.
There are also reports, according to one account, that the War Department is preparing for weeks of ground operations.
It’s not clear from that report exactly what ground operations may be on the plate.
Read More: New: 12 US Troops Injured in Iranian Strike on Saudi Arabian Base
Trump’s Final Warning to Iran? Open the Strait, Make the Deal, or Face ‘Obliteration’ of Infrastructure
Finally, a U.S. E-3 Sentry AWAC aircraft was destroyed in a drone attack on Friday. RedState’s own streiff brought us an account of that:
Friday, the U.S. military suffered what in competent hands would’ve been a potentially game-changing loss in our ongoing war with Iran. At least twelve U.S. servicemembers were wounded, two seriously, and at least two KC-135 aerial tankers, the Wall Street Journal says “multiple,” and one E-3 Sentry Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft were seriously damaged.
This event, as strieff notes in his report, underscores our continuing vulnerability to drone attacks.
Finally, Iran has continued to lock down the flow of information, keeping the internet shut down inside their borders.
“This is a blackout on truth,” a senior Israeli intelligence official told Fox News. “The regime is hiding reality from its own people. They don’t want the Iranian people to see how badly they’re getting hit.”
This is the face of modern warfare: Drones are lending a new capability in asymmetric warfare, while a hostile regime cuts off online communications, another, new way in which a totalitarian regime keeps information from the citizens. But it’s increasingly likely that the Gulf states that Iran is so casually tossing missiles and drones at may well join the fight against the Islamic Republic in a substantive way – that would be a game-changer.
It’s looking a lot like this thing is going to drag on for some time yet. Stay tuned.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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