As the conflict between Israel and Iran escalated, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war against Iran is “not going to take years.”
“I said it could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it’s not going to take years. It’s not an endless war,” Netanyahu said on Fox News’ “Hannity” program on Monday.
Initially, U.S. President Donald Trump projected the war to last four or five weeks, but he has since sought to justify a broad, open-ended war on Iran.
War Spreads To Lebanon
The war entered its fourth day on Tuesday, with Hezbollah in Lebanon being involved and Iran hitting Gulf states that host U.S. bases. Explosions shook Tel Aviv while air defences intercepted Iranian missiles. Israel retaliated by attacking the complex that houses Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB in Tehran and targeting Hezbollah militants in towns across Lebanon.
Two drones, allegedly from Iran, struck the U.S. embassy in Riyadh early on Tuesday, and at least eight more drones were intercepted before reaching the city, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that its naval forces had destroyed the main command building and headquarters of a U.S. airbase in Bahrain in what was described as the 14th wave of “Operation Promise of the Truth 4.” The IRGC also said that it had launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on the base in the Sheikh Isa area early in the morning, with 20 drones and three missiles striking their intended targets.
The conflict has thrown global air transport into chaos and shut down shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil trade passes near the Iranian coast, surging oil prices.
Deploying Ground Forces?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a warning on Monday, saying, “the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military” in the offensive against Iran.
When asked how long he expected the United States to be engaged in conflict with Iran, Rubio responded to reporters, saying that he could not rule out the possibility that Trump may deploy U.S. troops to fight a ground war in West Asia; however, they believe they can achieve the mission objectives without doing so.
Trump claimed the U.S. faces an imminent threat from Iran that justified the war; however, U.S. lawmakers have argued that he provided no evidence to back his assessment.
Trump’s assault on Iran is the biggest U.S. foreign policy gamble in decades and a major risk for the Republican Party as midterm elections approach. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, only one in four Americans supports the attack on Iran.
(with inputs from Reuters)
