The Americans are very concerned about the escalation of missile attacks on their positions and soldiers in Iraq and Syria, but they show contradictory reactions to these attacks.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in response to a question by Al-Arabiya and the event on Thursday “We are very concerned.” He also said, “You saw us respond proportionately when the safety and security of our soldiers is threatened.”
“Who knows what would have happened?”
(After an additional question, the Pentagon spokesman said what was more serious, when he noted, “We were lucky that day, two people were slightly injured. Who knows what would have happened?”
These simple expressions betray There is great ambiguity, as the US administration threatens a strong response if an American soldier is killed in the attacks of the Iranian-backed militias, but at the same time it is afraid of escalation.
Every time a missile or a drone is launched on an American base in Syria or Iraq, The coalition leadership rushes to ascertain the extent of the damage, and the officers and soldiers in the Central Command and in the Pentagon rush to their phones and ask about the truth of what happened, and then the National Security Council calls begin at the White House, while journalists are pouring down worse
The only answer that Americans do not want to hear is “a soldier was killed!” If a soldier was killed, “nobody knows what will happen” and a military battle may begin between the United States and the militias and Iran.
US Strategy
The US administration has set a rule for dealing with the Middle East region, based on “diplomacy, de-escalation and deterrence,” but the repeated attacks push American officials Now to reconsider their options, according to Al-Arabiya.net sources in the US administration.
Diplomacy has not yet succeeded in building the required bridge with Iran, and American efforts have failed to reach an agreement in Vienna on a return to peace. In fact, Iran has ramped up uranium enrichment and accumulated large quantities of it, and may be within two or three months of acquiring the quantities needed to build a nuclear bomb.
The Biden administration also applied the principle of “de-escalation” and avoided US forces Escalate any naval friction with Iranian ships and boats in the Persian Gulf, and has also sought to direct measured military responses to the attacks launched by the so-called militias.
Deterrence Failed
Now, American officials, whom Al-Arabiya.net spoke to, say that the major raids in Syria and Iraq failed to deter the Iranian-backed militias. Rather, the Americans feel that these militias manage daily to threaten American soldiers in the Middle East, and the Americans remain in a state of panic for an hour or more whenever an attack occurs until they hear the phrase “Nobody Died.”
Mick Millroy, The former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East said in an interview with Al-Arabiya.net, “Iran has for years been using its proxies to carry out attacks on its competitors.” Millroy, who now works as a commentator with the American network ABC, added, “The United States must respond to this Attacks by force because this is the only thing that has deterrent effect on Iran.” He said, “They have to understand that they cannot hide behind their agents, and if they continue what they are doing, perhaps our response will have to escalate.”
Pay the price
Another official who worked in the Pentagon during the past years told Al Arabiya.net, “It is now clear that the militias have not been deterred in Iraq,” and added, asking not to be named, “I I doubt that lasting calm can be achieved through militias in Iraq, but the United States could achieve longer periods of calm if we reassess our response to make the militias pay a greater price.”
What previous officials suggest in resorting to Using escalating force against militias, and perhaps Iran as well, to get out of this cycle, and this is what the administration of Donald Trump has done.
But the current administration is working within “strategic” goals and starts from the need to reach an understanding with Iran about returning to the The nuclear agreement, and reaches the need for its forces to remain in Iraq and Syria and to maintain the American bases and soldiers deployed in the Middle East, and it does not discuss at all the withdrawal of these forces from the region, including from Iraq and Syria.
What it has not yet been able to accomplish. It is to reach these strategic goals on the basis of diplomacy and non-escalation while deterrence fails.
