US plans for possible wider war with Iran - Washington Post

As is known, on Friday, Iran struck a US military base in Jordan, resulting in the deaths of two servicemen. On Saturday, the story of deaths repeated itself, but this time in Iran. There, as a result of a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, a serviceman also died.

US President Donald Trump called the first two deaths a very sad event, but in an interview with NewsNation, he said he couldn't care less that Iran would no longer adhere to the bilateral memorandum of understanding.

"The U.S. is planning for a wider war," a US official told WP, adding that the Pentagon is increasing the number of military aircraft in the region.

However, he warned that the expansion of US operations would be limited by dwindling air defense stocks and long-range ammunition.

In addition, the US faces constraints on its ability to redeploy additional troops and aircraft to the area due to combat damage.

"We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that," the official added.

Military experts believe that, besides the depletion of American equipment and ammunition stocks, the US is not ready for a potential ground operation in Iran. That is, an operation that Trump refused to rule out last week.

Background

In June, the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that extended the ceasefire and opened the way for negotiations on the issues that had sparked the war.

However, in early July, Iran struck vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, after which the US retaliated with strikes on Iran. This happened around the 7th, after which mutual attacks began to occur daily.

In connection with these events, Trump stated that the ceasefire had ended, and Iran's Foreign Ministry said in recent days that it would no longer fulfill its obligations under this document.

By the way, tonight the US began the 9th consecutive night of strikes on Iran.