Pentagon Reviews Plans, Seeking Ways to Confront Iran

Re-assessing Entire Approach to the Middle East

According to Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, the US military has begun a review o the “full breadth” of their activities in the Middle East, including troop positioning and cooperation, looking for ways to target Iran.

The comments came after President Trump’s Iran speech, in which he laid out a much more confrontational approach toward the country, and Pentagon officials couched their position as one of supporting the president’s plans.

Maj. Rankine-Galloway said the focus would be on neutralizing Iran’s influence across the region, “particularly its support for terrorist groups and militants.” This suggests the Pentagon looking to pick more fights against Shi’ite forces in Syria.

Expectations to find ways to confront Iran over the nuclear deal or over foreign policy differences are going to be difficult, because Iran is complying with the nuclear deal, and its foreign intervention is focused on fighting ISIS. Still, decades of hostility means the Pentagon has a lot of experience in trying to pick fights with Iran, and will doubtless find some pretext for something.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.