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Policy explainers
Expert features
By Gabriel Gavin
However, according to Daniel Davis, a retired U.S. army lieutenant colonel and senior fellow at Defense Priorities, provoking Iran into undercutting the prospects of a ceasefire could be a deliberate strategy. “The only reason this is an issue is because Israel chose to assassinate a general in the Iranian embassy in Damascus,” he said. “They chose the most volatile, in-your-face target they could, I think, to spawn something.”
By Carol E. Lee, Courtney Kube, Aurora Almendral, Andrea Mitchell and Anna Schecter
Benjamin Friedman, policy director of the think tank Defense Priorities, said in a statement that “the Israeli government has courted a fight with Iran, perhaps encouraged by the prospect of U.S. help in going after Iran.”
“Instead of talking about ‘ironclad’ support for Israel, the president should have made clear the U.S. support is limited and does not extend to all circumstances,” Friedman said. “War with Iran would imperil U.S. security for no obvious pay off.”
Defense Priorities, based in Washington, advocates restraint in U.S. foreign policy.
By Onur Ant
Michael DiMino, Public Policy Manager at Washington DC-based think tank Defense Priorities, said Tehran’s attack is meant to show its willingness to respond to the April 1 strike on its embassy compound in Syria while avoiding further escalation.
“Given the telegraphing and diplomatic backchanneling in advance of these strikes, Iran has likely calibrated this attack to provide a ‘Goldilocks’ response aimed at a forceful reprisal that still mitigates escalation risks.”
By Courtney McBride and Peter Martin
The attack drones and cruise missiles "are likely part of a coordinated multi-phase response in an attempt to overwhelm and confuse Israeli air defenses," said Michael DiMino, a former CIA analyst and current fellow at Defense Priorities.
By Matthew Petti
"We are at a point with our munitions stockpile where everything regarding American foreign policy is an issue of 'can' and not 'should,'" says Dan Caldwell, an Iraq War veteran and public policy adviser for Defense Priorities who has been writing about munitions shortages for years. "This is not a reality that can be rapidly overcome by spending tens of billions of dollars on the defense industrial base."
"We have no choice but to deprioritize certain conflicts and avoid getting into new conflicts unless we want a serious military disaster," Caldwell concludes. "Stop pretending we don't have constraints, because you are doing a disservice to the American people, and you are risking our safety and our prosperity."