Washington, Oct 8 (IANS) : The Pentagon instructed US Central Command several days ago to complete preparations for resuming major combat operations in Iran, according to a report citing US officials.
US and Israeli sources said the strikes could take place before the US midterm elections, which will be held on November 3, and possibly before the Israeli elections a week earlier, reports Xinhua, quoting news website Axios.
Potential combat operations include massive bombing campaigns targeting Iranian energy, infrastructure and nuclear facilities, according to the sources.
Less than a month before the US midterms, affordability is the biggest issue for voters, who are blaming Republicans, the party in power. The war in Iran has caused gas prices to surge, driving up costs across industries including shipping, trucking, air travel and food.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday showed that US President Donald Trump’s approval rating remained at a record low of 32 per cent, unchanged from a September poll that marked the lowest rating of his political career.
Cost of living is the top issue on Americans’ minds as they decide how to vote next month, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Meanwhile, Iranian Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia has said that, if necessary, the country will carry out preemptive military operations to prevent any “aggression by the enemy.”
He made the remarks in an interview with the semi-official Fars news agency, which was published on Wednesday, while stressing that Iranian armed forces had previously launched such operations against the “enemy”.
Akraminia said the country has changed its military doctrine from being defensive to offensive and has followed it in the war with the United States and Israel.
He noted among the operations carried out by the Iranian armed forces based on the new doctrine were a missile strike against a US base in Jordan in late July, as well as several missile and drone attacks over the past months against the bases of the “counter-revolutionary and separatist” groups stationed in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
He added the strike against the US base, which was preemptive, “wrested the initiative from them and left them unable to take any action.”
Akraminia stressed that carrying out preemptive operations while adhering to principles, such as necessity, urgency, and proportionality, is considered “legitimate.”
Commenting on the possibility of a ground invasion by the United States against Iran, he said, “My assessment is that the Americans will not dare launch a ground invasion.”
Akraminia said Iran’s Army has decided to work on increasing the range of its missiles following the war with the United States and Israel.
