US sends carrier and fighter squadron to Middle East as region braces for Iranian retaliation
US sends carrier and fighter squadron to Middle East as region braces for Iranian retaliation
warships and fighter squadron to middle east as region braces for iranian retaliation,us sends carrier and fighter squadron,region braces for iranian retaliation,middle east,chinese fighter jet land on aircraft carrier,iranian retaliation,iranian terrorist proxies,iran vs israel | iranian 'spy ship' in spotlight as u.s. seeks retaliation against tehran,uss eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group,gerald ford aircraft carrier,uss gerald ford aircraft carrier
warships and fighter squadron to middle east as region braces for iranian retaliation,us sends carrier and fighter squadron,region braces for iranian retaliation,middle east,chinese fighter jet land on aircraft carrier,iranian retaliation,iranian terrorist proxies,iran vs israel | iranian 'spy ship' in spotlight as u.s. seeks retaliation against tehran,uss eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group,gerald ford aircraft carrier,uss gerald ford aircraft carrier
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00The U.S. is preparing to send fresh military assets to the Middle East, including a carrier
00:04strike group and a fighter squadron.
00:07It is bracing for a further escalation of hostilities as Iran vows retaliation for the
00:13killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.
00:17It blames Israel for the attack.
00:19Israel has not commented publicly either way.
00:22New today, the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, is telling Americans who want to get out of
00:26the country to book any ticket available.
00:30It's also warning those who do not leave that they, quote, should not rely on the U.S. government
00:34for assisted departure or evacuation in a crisis.
00:38I want to bring in now retired U.S. Army Major General Dana Pittard to talk more about this.
00:43General, I want to ask you to have a listen here to National Security Council spokesman
00:47John Kirby as he explains why exactly the U.S. is moving more resources into the region.
00:54We've heard the supreme leader loud and clear that he intends to avenge this killing of
00:59a Hamas leader in Tehran and that they want to conduct another attack on Israel.
01:05We can't just assume that we aren't also potentially going to be victims of that kind of an attack.
01:10So we've got to make sure we've got the right resources and capabilities in the region.
01:16So are these capabilities, should we presume, the focus here is additional missile and drone
01:23defense, not just for Israeli targets, but also U.S. forces deployed in the region?
01:30Well, good afternoon, Jim.
01:32I think what John Kirby said, and I know John Kirby, is that the U.S. military in America
01:40is just being prudent by sending a strike carrier force there, the U.S. Strike Carrier
01:47Group, there. But it's to protect American assets as well as to help defend Israel in
01:53case Iran decides to attack. And it does look like Iran is going to do something, just not
01:59sure what it is at this point.
02:01So Iran a number of weeks ago launched dozens of missiles and drones at Israel, what was
02:07then an unprecedented attack. The missile defenses, which by the way weren't just the
02:12U.S. and Israeli, there were other partners, including Arab partners in the region. The
02:15missile defenses worked then. I imagine Iran will want to prove it could do better this
02:22time. So what might that kind of attack look like?
02:27Well, as you mentioned, in April, nearly 300 drones, missiles, and other assets were fired
02:35at Israel, and it utterly failed. So this time Israel should anticipate really a multidirectional
02:45attack, which includes from Iran itself, as well as Hezbollah to the north, Houthis to
02:52the south, and even Gaza to an extent, which would try to overwhelm the air defenses of
03:00Israel and Israel's regional allies.
03:06So let me ask you this, because in the cycle of violence in the Middle East, and by the
03:10way this has been going on for decades, if and when Iran carries out such an attack,
03:17Israel will then say it needs to respond to retain deterrence or reestablish deterrence
03:24and retaliate in some way. I'm trying to figure out how we get out of this cycle.
03:34Well I think it depends on how much damage is done by Iran against Israel. If it isn't
03:39a whole lot of damage, then that's where the U.S. diplomatic actions can talk to Israel
03:45and say, let's call it a day so we can move on with the ceasefire in Gaza. So I think
03:51it depends. It depends on the level of attack from Iran.
03:57What is the danger that the U.S. gets drawn into this attack? It's going to participate
04:02likely in some way, largely, if they can, in a defensive role, providing additional
04:08missile defense and drone defense against any attack that would come from Iran and its
04:14proxies. But there's a chance that U.S. forces are also hit there, as John Kirby was referring
04:21to, which might then generate a U.S. response of its own. So the risk for U.S. direct involvement
04:30is quite high here, isn't it?
04:35There is risk of Iran attacking U.S. forces, but that will be on Iran. Iran does not want
04:42to have a fight with both the United States and Israel. Iran wants to certainly save face
04:48because of the assassination of Ismail Hania on its soil. But what Iran does not want
04:55is a full-blown war. In a full-blown war, Iran loses.
05:01And perhaps loses its nuclear facilities, which it's highly invested in. But before
05:05we go, as we look at this situation, which is again so familiar in the region, where
05:12is U.S. power at this point? Because there's been a lot of reporting, including by CNN,
05:16that the Biden administration has been constantly pushing, pressuring Israel to rein in some
05:24of its attacks. And yet these attacks continue and arguably get more aggressive. Is U.S.
05:30influence not just in the region, but with Israel, is it declining?
05:35I wouldn't say the U.S. influence is declining. U.S. forces and the U.S. influence in the
05:42Middle East is greater than any other power in the world. They're in the Middle East.
05:48But it is interesting that Israel has sent these really three major assassinations. And
05:55that may be more on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his situation as far as politically in
06:02Israel and how he remains in power himself, as opposed to a waning of U.S. influence.
06:09His own partner, former partner in the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, has said quite similar.
06:14Major General Dana Pitard, thanks so much.
06:18Thank you, Jim.
06:19I do want to ask you about the situation in the Middle East. We know the U.S. is sending
06:22an aircraft carrier, warships and a fighter squadron to the region, bracing for Iran to
06:28retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. How are
06:33you anticipating Iran to retaliate?
06:38Well, they will retaliate. The supreme leader of Iran has told us so. He was in a planning
06:42session a couple of days ago or yesterday discussing plans. I think now Secretary of
06:47Defense Lloyd Austin has done the right things with regard to deploying additional forces
06:51in the theater, you know, warships that can carry anti-missile systems and an additional
06:57fighter squadron, things that I had to do during my tenure. But I think this will happen
07:01in the next day or so or three. What I anticipate, look, there are a range of options they could
07:07attack an Israeli embassy somewhere in the region or outside the region. They could employ
07:11their Shia militia groups and others, all their proxies, whether it's the Houthis, Hamas,
07:15Hezbollah, you name it. But I suspect, you know, they'll go back to where they were in
07:19April with a very large assault using missiles and drones against the Israelis. And this
07:26time they will foreshadow the punch much less than they did in April. And I suspect what
07:31they could do is try to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and American assistance, I might
07:37say, by asking Hezbollah to launch hundreds, if not thousands of rockets from the north.
07:42And that has the possibility of overwhelming Iron Dome and the other Israeli air defense
07:47systems.
07:48Right. So just to remind everyone, because when this happened back in April and Iran
07:52launched those drones and missiles, the U.S. led a coalition. They were able to neutralize
07:57all of those. Nothing really got through. And they got a coalition also within the Middle
08:03East. Do you think that to your point, if they if they now go to the northern border
08:08and do this at the same time, that you think that does have the potential to maybe overwhelm
08:13the defense system that worked last time?
08:17I think it is very possible. I mean, as you said, there was it was a very feckless attack.
08:21They launched drones that took five, six, seven hours to get there. They followed a
08:25northern route. So they gave the Israelis time to prepare. And ultimately, it was about
08:29300 missiles. But, you know, at some point in time, an air defense system can be overwhelmed
08:34if you if the attacker launches simultaneously barrages and barrages of rockets, missiles
08:39and drones. And we know that Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, north of Israel, has up
08:44to one hundred and fifty thousand rockets and missiles.
08:47And depending on the numbers they use could overwhelm Israel.
08:50And this time, rather than a single person being hit, hurt or killed, as
08:56happened in April, they could kill or hurt dozens, who knows how many of Israelis.
09:01But I do feel that because the attack against Ismail Hania,
09:06the political leader of of Hamas, happened in Iran
09:11right after the ceremony bringing in Pozeshki and the new
09:15president, it was just such a major embarrassment to Iran that they have to act.
09:19They have to do something. They can't just do it through their proxies.
09:22And it's going to be more than what we saw in April.
09:25And so then that leads us to the U.S. role in all of this.
09:28Obviously, we laid out at the beginning what the defense secretary has been doing,
09:32the moves that have been made by the U.S. military.
09:35But at what point does the risk of U.S.
09:37involvement grow?
09:42Well, we are involved, you know, we are we're supplying Israel with weapons, intelligence,
09:47advice, we're pushing them here and there on different things.
09:50And as you noted, Jessica, in the April assault, we we shot down
09:55Iranian missiles with our own missiles and using our aircraft to shoot down drones.
10:00And so the fact is, if it if it's not de-escalated at some point,
10:04right, as the Israelis did last time in April, then this we start moving up the
10:09escalation ladder and that could draw us deeper and deeper into a real all out conflict
10:14in the Middle East, which would see now not just, you know, the conflict in Hamas,
10:18but again, you'd have Hezbollah attacking from the north, the Houthis from the south.
10:22You could have a lot of fighting on the West Bank right outside Jerusalem.
10:27You could have Shia militia groups attacking Israelis or American forces.
10:31We've got about twenty five hundred in Iraq.
10:34And then, of course, you'd be you'd see a lot of missile exchanges and other type of
10:39capabilities being displayed between Iran and Israel.
10:41It could be a very big conflict.
10:42And at that point, Israel would need our assistance, our direct assistance.
10:46And it could even involve going after Iran ourselves.
10:50All right. Well, we will see how this develops.
10:51Secretary Mark Esper, always good to have you on.
10:53Thanks again. Thanks, Jessica.