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US military to present the Donald with several options on Iran
by Joseph Earnest September 20, 2019
Newscast Media WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Pentagon will present a broad range of military options to President Donald Trump Friday as he considers how to respond to what administration officials say was an unprecedented Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia's oil industry.
In a White House meeting, the Republican president will be presented with a list of potential air strike targets inside Iran, among other possible responses, and he will be warned that military action against the Islamic Republic could escalate into war, according to U.S. officials familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The national security meeting will likely be the first opportunity for a decision on how the U.S. should respond to the attack on a key Middle East ally. Any decision may depend on what kind of evidence the U.S. and Saudi investigators are able to provide proving that the cruise missile and drone strike was launched by Iran, as a number of officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have asserted.
Iran has denied involvement and warned the U.S. that any attack will spark an "all-out war" with immediate retaliation from Tehran.
Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence have condemned the attack on Saudi oil facilities as "an act of war." Pence said Trump will "review the facts, and he'll make a decision about next steps. But the American people can be confident that the United States of America is going to defend our interest in the region, and we're going to stand with our allies."
The U.S. response could involve military, political and economic actions, and the military options could range from no action at all to air strikes or less visible moves such as cyber attacks. One likely move would be for the U.S. to provide additional military support to help Saudi Arabia defend itself from attacks from the north, since most of its defenses have focused on threats from Houthis in Yemen to the south.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized to a small number of journalists traveling with him Monday that the question of whether the U.S. responds is a "political judgment" and not for the military.
"It is my job to provide military options to the president should he decide to respond with military force," Dunford said.
Trump will want "a full range of options," he said. "In the Middle East, of course, we have military forces there and we do a lot of planning and we have a lot of options." Add Comments >>
Source: Daily Star
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