WASHINGTON, March 31. /TASS/. US intelligence officials have informed US President Donald Trump that, according to their assessments, Iran will likely not respond to threats from the Washington administration, says an article published by The Washington Post (WP).
According to the publication’s sources, "Intelligence analysts have assessed that Iran’s view is that it has the upper hand in the conflict and therefore is not likely to respond to US threats of force." The sources clarified that the American leader "has been briefed on that assessment."
The article pointed out that the US president regularly threatens Iran publicly, while also claiming that contacts between the US and the Islamic Republic’s authorities continue. "Iran denied virtually all of Trump’s assertions," the publication notes. According to a source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, "exchanges between the two sides have been only indirect transmissions of nonoverlapping demands through the government of Pakistan."
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.