The US Department of Defence is scrambling to increase the number of troops gathering intelligence for operations in West Asia as Washington prepares for the war with Iran that could last till September, according to reports.
The US Central Command has asked the Pentagon to send more military intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days but likely through September, according to a report byPolitico.
According to the report, this was the first known call for additional intelligence personnel by the Trump administration and a sign that the Pentagon is already allocating funding for operations that may last longer than US President Donald Trump’s four-week timeline.
Earlier this week, Trump suggested the military campaign might last four to five weeks but warned it could “go far longer than that." However, the rapid effort to mobilise more personnel and resources is a sign that the United States was unprepared for the war on Iran, which it launched in coordination with Israel.
“What we’ve seen is a completely ad hoc operation where it appeared that nobody actually understood or believed that military action was imminent," Gerald Feierstein, a former senior US diplomat with experience in West Asian affairs, told Politico. “It seems like they woke up on Saturday morning and decided that they were going to start a war."
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The Pentagon is also trying to ship more air defences to the region, especially smaller, less expensive counter-drone systems that the department has been developing over the last several years, a US official said. The official said most of the US counter-drones have not been used so far, and American forces are yet to face a drone threat.
The US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28, targeting Tehran’s security infrastructure and killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with other top officials. However, American and Israeli officials have not yet articulated a clear end goal for the operation.
On the other hand, Iran has retaliated by firing on US and other targets across the Gulf. At least six US troops died at a port in Kuwait, raising questions about whether their facility had been fortified well enough against the apparent drone strike.
As per an earlierPoliticoreport, senior advisers to Trump preferred Israel strike Iran first before the United States launched its own assault. However, the plan failed, drawing Washington directly in the war.
Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News
