No US decision on joining war yet, though it could come in days: Israeli officials
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Mr Trump was scheduled to meet with his national security team on June 21 to discuss the possibility of joining Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Ronen Bergman and Javier C. Hernandez
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TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has not told the Israeli military whether the US plans to join the war on Iran,
But the two officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, said they believed that Washington was likely to enter the war and that it was already making preparations to do so.
Based on Israeli conversations with their American counterparts over the past two days, the officials said, a US strike on Iran could take place in the coming days.
US President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with his national security team at the White House on the evening of June 21 to discuss the possibility of joining Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. While the White House has said Mr Trump has not made a final decision on an attack, the US has dispatched several Air Force B-2 bombers
The bombers can carry the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs Mr Trump is considering dropping on Fordow, the heavily fortified underground nuclear facility in Iran that is critical to its nuclear programme.
The planes could provide options to the President, even if they are not ultimately deployed. In moving the B-2 bombers – and allowing the public to know about it – the White House may also be seeking to pressure Iran to come to the negotiating table.
Israeli forces launched attacks against several sites in southern Iran on June 21, targeting sites for missile launchers and radars in the Ahvaz region, which would most likely be on any potential flight path used by US warplanes on the way to strike Fordow.
Dr Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Israel’s strikes in south-western Iran could be an attempt to open up those flight paths.
“That is probably the most optimal corridor,” he said. But, he added, American bombers could approach Fordow from various directions.
The strikes could also be the Israeli military’s attempt to signal to Mr Trump that the cost of entering the war for the US would “be very minimal because we’ve already done the heavy lifting”, according to Mr Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group.
“They are framing it as a low-cost coup de grace to Iran’s nuclear programme for which President Trump could take credit,” Mr Vaez added.
The Israeli military also said it had struck sites storing munitions and drones in south-western Iran in the city of Bandar Abbas on June 21. Iran activated its air defence systems in Bandar Abbas and other cities, according to Mehr news agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian government.
Explosions were reported in the southern cities of Ahvaz, Dezful and Mahshahr, according to the Mehr news agency. An emergency centre in Hoveyzeh, a city in near Ahvaz, was also hit, according to a statement by Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences.
Dr Takeyh said the Israeli attacks on June 21 were also most likely aimed at weakening Iran’s military, commercial centres and oil infrastructure in the south.
“As this ratchets up,” he said, “you begin to see an expansion of the targets.”
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, and on June 21, the country’s president, Mr Masoud Pezeshkian, said that Iran refused to reduce nuclear activities to zero “under any circumstances”, according to Mehr.
On June 21, the two Israeli defence officials said Washington had asked the Iranians to consider several potential frameworks for a ceasefire agreement. The Iranians have conveyed a willingness to negotiate, according to the officials, but the Americans view the Iranian response so far as a non-starter. NYTIMES
