WASHINGTON, April 29. /TASS/. The US intelligence community is assessing, at the request of the White House, the consequences of a possible unilateral declaration by the United States of the end of the war with Iran, Reuters has reported.
Citing two US officials and another person familiar with the matter, it specified that US intelligence services are analyzing "how Iran would respond if [US] President Donald Trump were to declare a unilateral victory." "The goal is to understand the implications of Trump potentially pulling back from a conflict that some [US] officials and advisers worry could contribute to deep Republican losses at the midterm elections later this year," the publication notes. The midterm elections in the US will take place in November, and many observers currently predict defeat for the ruling Republican Party, primarily due to the deeply unpopular operation against Iran and the resulting rise in fuel prices in the country.
No decision yet
According to the agency, Washington has not yet formulated a decision, and Trump may well still intensify the military campaign against Iran. However, "quick de-escalation could ease political pressure on the president," even if it strengthens Iran’s resolve and allows Tehran to eventually rebuild its nuclear and missile programs, and if necessary, "threaten US allies in the region [of the Middle East]," Reuters wrote.
The agency also stressed, citing three unnamed individuals familiar with the discussions on the Iranian issue at the White House in recent days, that Trump is "keenly aware of the political price being paid by him and his party" for the war with Iran. "A White House official described the domestic pressure on the president to wrap up the war as ‘enormous,’" the article stated.
According to the publication, the US government continues to maintain "various military options" regarding Iran, including the resumption of strikes on its political leaders and military command. However, the implementation of "the most ambitious of those options," involving, for example, a ground invasion of Iran, now appears "less likely than they did a few weeks ago." Furthermore, the agency indicates that Iran has managed, during the ceasefire period, to extract a significant amount of weaponry, including drones and missile launchers, from the rubble of military facilities bombed by the US and Israel in the first weeks of the war. Because of this, according to its report, the price of resuming full-scale military action for the US and Israel would now be "arguably higher" than in the first days of the truce that began on April 8.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) refused to answer specific questions regarding Iran. "CIA is not familiar with the intelligence community’s reported assessment," Liz Lyons, director of the agency’s office of public affairs, told Reuters. The office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States, Tulsi Gabbard, declined to comment.