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.
