Are the United States and Israel about to launch a new attack against Iran? President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have suggested this is on the table.
Transcription
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Are the United States and Israel about to launch a new attack against Iran? President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have suggested this is on the table. And now there are new reports about the war plans both countries are developing for early November. NPR’s Daniel Estrin is online from Tel Aviv. Hi.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: Daniel, what can you tell us about these projects?
ESTRIN: I spoke to a person briefed on the matter, who was not authorized to speak publicly, but said the United States and Israel were working on plans for a possible strike against Iran as early as early November, after the Israeli elections which take place next week and after the U.S. midterm elections, which take place on November 3. The person I spoke to said Israel had initially planned a strike against Iran for mid-October but the United States had ruled it out. This information was first reported by the Financial Times and the New York Times. Netanyahu denied the reports.
SUMMERS: But Daniel, didn’t Netanyahu openly threaten to attack?
ESTRIN: He did. All this has been revealed in recent days. On Sunday, President Trump endorsed Netanyahu for re-election. Israelis will go to the polls next Tuesday. And Trump said the reason he supported it was because he was saying that maybe we need to finish the job in Iran and he would need the support of Netanyahu and Israel to do that. And since Trump supported Netanyahu, he has been campaigning for re-election by promising that he would strike Iran.
Just yesterday, Netanyahu gave a speech in which he said Iran’s new supreme leader was trying to develop what he called death bombs, referring to nuclear weapons. And Netanyahu said there was only one way to eliminate this threat once and for all: overthrow the Iranian regime. He said this was his directive to the Israeli military and Israeli security and intelligence agencies. He said the supreme leader had failed to learn lessons from the previous two rounds of war that Iran faced by Israel and the United States.
SUMMERS: What is the Israeli reaction?
ESTRIN: Many analysts in Israel are actually critical of this strategy presented by Netanyahu. An Israeli analyst, Danny Citrinowicz, headed the Iranian branch of Israeli military intelligence, and he says it is actually the United States and Israel that have failed to learn the lessons of previous wars. He said more attacks would not convince Iran to abandon its nuclear or ballistic ambitions and program. And he added that this time, if a war breaks out, Iran could retaliate with even more serious attacks that could affect global markets. So the question he asks is: what would another military campaign actually accomplish that the last two failed to achieve?
SUMMERS: Daniel, what can you tell us about how the United States is preparing for war?
ESTRIN: My colleague Tom Bowman reports that Pentagon officials told him that the United States is moving a third aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, to the region, and that it is expected to arrive there later next month. We know that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Netanyahu in Israel earlier this week. I must emphasize, Juana, however, that an attack cannot occur. This preparation for war could be part of a campaign to pressure Iran into a diplomatic deal. All this talk certainly serves Netanyahu’s own re-election campaign. He is behind in the polls against his main challenger, and he is therefore leading a very intense campaign on this new line of possible war.
SUMMERS: And last thing, Daniel, before we let you go: What did Iran have to say about all this?
ESTRIN: Iran’s foreign minister says just as Iran is prepared for diplomacy, it is prepared for war. He said all scenarios were conceivable, including the possibility of an attack by the United States and Israel. Iranian state media also reports that Iranian officials say that if their country’s civilian infrastructure is attacked, they will retaliate by targeting U.S. interests in the region. Iran is also threatening to target data centers and undersea internet cables in the Gulf. And that really makes the Gulf countries very nervous. Gulf economies have been hit hard by previous rounds of US and Israeli attacks, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund.
SUMMERS: NPR’s Daniel Estrin online from Tel Aviv. Thank you so much.
ESTRIN: You’re welcome.
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