Politico: U.S. command requested additional staff from the Pentagon to continue the war with Iran for at least 100 days.
The Central Command of the U.S. Armed Forces is requesting the Pentagon to send additional military intelligence personnel to its headquarters in Florida to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days, and likely until September, Politico reports, citing internal documents, as quoted by Meduza.
This is a sign that the military department is already allocating funding for operations that may last much longer than the initial four-week timeframe set by Donald Trump, Politico writes.
The Pentagon is also trying to send more air defense resources to the region, particularly smaller and less expensive systems for combating drones that the department has been developing in recent years, an American official reported.
Politico notes that the Trump team "did not fully anticipate the wide-ranging consequences" of the war in Iran. Another sign of this is that the State Department is allocating additional resources for the evacuation of diplomatic personnel from the Middle East. According to a source from the State Department, the department's senior management has taken over the evacuation, which is usually handled by consulate and bureau staff.
The U.S. operation called "Epic Fury" against Iran (jointly with Israel) began on February 28. On the very first day, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed while at his residence in Tehran. On the third day of the operation, Trump stated that it would take about four weeks "or even less." During the operation, six American soldiers have already died, but the U.S. president expects further losses in the military.
The war in Iran has also affected all major countries in the Persian Gulf: Iranian drones and missiles are flying into the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and other neighboring states, while the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most crucial route for oil exports from the Persian Gulf countries, is practically blocked — ships are not passing through it due to the threat of drone strikes.
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