Islamic Republic News Agency

💬 Iran’s swift response to US aggression has trapped Washington: Arab analyst 📌 Tehran, IRNA – Prominent Arab analyst, Abdel Bari Atwan, says the renewed military campaign launched by US President Donald Trump against Iran has backfired, arguing that Iran’s swift response has trapped the United States in a major strategic quagmire. In an article published on the Rai Al Youm website on Saturday, Atwan said Trump launched the military campaign against Iran despite clear opposition from the US military establishment, which objected to plans to wage aggression aimed at taking control of the Strait of Hormuz and international shipping through the strategic waterway. ​ According to Atwan, senior military officials insisted that the Pentagon’s new war doctrine be strictly followed. The doctrine calls for avoiding military confrontation whenever possible and, if war becomes unavoidable, ensuring that it is short, swift, and limited in both human and material losses. ​ He added that many senior US military commanders opposed what they viewed as Trump’s recklessness and his acceptance of Israeli misinformation, with more than 25 generals said to have either resigned or been dismissed because of their opposition. ​ Despite those objections, Trump returned to the military option and violated a Pakistan-brokered memorandum of understanding that called for a cessation of hostilities, Atwan wrote. Judging by developments on the ground, he argued, the US military has walked into what he described as a carefully prepared Iranian trap: a prolonged regional war of attrition. ​ According to the author, two developments indicate that the US military has failed to gain the upper hand in the conflict. The first is the Pentagon's announcement that the number of US troops wounded in the past 10 days has risen to 427. The second is the destruction of two oil tankers after they struck naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, along with the interception of four other tankers that attempted to transit the unofficial southern shipping lane without Iranian authorization, as announced by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). ​ The incidents involving the tankers, Atwan argued, support Iran’s assertion that the Strait of Hormuz has effectively been closed, that shipping has been disrupted, and that no oil has passed through it, contrary to President Trump’s statements. ​ Atwan acknowledged that the US military has struck several Iranian civilian infrastructure facilities. However, he argued that Iran responded swiftly by destroying most US bases along the western coast of the Persian Gulf, targeting electricity and desalination facilities, and expanding its list of military targets to include Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain. ​ Trump’s face has grown pale, and the tone of his voice now reflects deep frustration, in sharp contrast to the confidence he displayed at the beginning of the conflict, the author argued. ​ Concluding his article, Atwan said the United States has lost every war it has fought in the Middle East, from Iraq to Afghanistan, and that Iran would be no exception. Unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, he argued, Iran possesses the largest and most powerful military in the region, manufactures advanced weapons domestically, and does not rely on foreign arms imports. 📲 ​