Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, told RS that, if the brief Israeli war on Iran this summer is any indication, many assets being moved to the region will help the U.S. protect what that it already has there, in case of attack.
“When the United States decided to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities in the Middle East in June, it did not rely much on military assets in the region for those attacks. It relied on bombers flown from the U.S. and fighter jets and aerial refuelers mostly from Europe,” Kavanagh told RS. “Military assets in the region were used mostly for defensive operations, to protect U.S. bases and forces and to help Israel defend itself against Iranian retaliation.”
“I would expect that any future campaign would be similar. Assets moved into the region seem to be those intended to defend U.S. forces, bases, and military hardware, more than what the U.S. might use for offensive strikes on Iran,” Kavanagh said.
Read at Responsible Statecraft
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