New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to develop new plans for a massive three-day strike against Iranian military and energy facilities. These plans primarily focus on targeting Iran’s missile and drone arsenal. The New York Times reports that Vice President J.D. Vance reviewed these plans with national security officials at Camp David last Friday. The Axios news site also reported on the development of new war plans.
Where attacks can happen
The Times reported that this is the sixth plan presented to Trump in recent months for a major offensive against Iran or the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen. Trump had rejected all previous plans, although the US has carried out limited retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets in response to attacks on ships and US allies in the region. Citing US officials familiar with the proposal, the Times reported that the new plans call for a massive strike lasting approximately three days.
The primary targets of these attacks would be Iran’s missile and drone stockpiles, which have been significantly refurbished since the war began. Targets could also include energy installations and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command centers.
How long can the attacks last?
The report states that after the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group departs the US coast and joins two other groups already in the region, the US will have three aircraft carriers in the Middle East for the first time since 2003. However, on Thursday, Trump said that Washington will not attack Iran before the US midterm elections on November 3.
He said that “productive” talks are underway between the two countries to end the seven-month war. This appears to contradict a Channel 12 report that US officials have asked Israel to prepare for a major attack on Iran within three weeks. This deadline expires just before the midterm elections.
What is Iran thinking?
President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran will not back down from negotiations despite repeated US attacks. He stressed that Tehran is committed to diplomacy and efforts to end the war, as well as to protecting the rights of the Iranian nation under international law.
Pezeshkian made these remarks during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) leaders’ summit and the Caspian Sea environmental summit in Turkmenistan. He said, “The US is trying to impose its policies and ideas on all countries and establish its dominance. Now it is forcing other countries to follow the policies it has formulated in its own country.”
