President Donald Trump's senior advisers favor Israel attacking Iran before the US launches strikes against the Islamic Republic, according to Politico.
Citing two people familiar with the discussions, the news site said anonymous administration officials believe an Israeli strike would prompt Iranian retaliation, which would help build public support for a US military offensive.
"There is a view in and around the administration that the political course would be much better if the Israelis struck first and alone, and the Iranians struck back, giving us more grounds "to take action," one of the sources cited in the report said. Both sources told Politico that a joint US-Israeli operation would be a possible course of action, regardless of whether Israel strikes first, with one of them saying that while talks with the Iranians are serious, those closest to Trump believe "we're going to bomb them." The report said the scale of a potential US military campaign remained unclear, citing concerns that running out of US ammunition could encourage China to try to attack Taiwan, and a larger offensive would increase the likelihood of casualties. "If it's an attack of a scale that could lead to regime change, Iran will likely respond with everything it has." We have a lot of assets in the region, and every one of them is a potential target," the report said. says one of the sources.
"And they are not under the protection of the "Iron Dome". So the probability of American casualties is high. And this carries a lot of political risk," the expert noted.