Michael Rubin
If Iran Attacks, U.S. Should Destroy Chabahar and Jask – The Iranian regime brims with bluster: If President Donald Trump orders a strike on Iran, Tehran will respond by destroying the U.S. Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia, 3000 miles to its south.
The trigger for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s anger was Trump’s dispatch of B-2 stealth bombers to the remote base, presumably to threaten Iran should it continue to reject negotiations to end its nuclear program.
Iran and the B-2: What Happens Now?
Neither the Iranian statement nor the dispatch of B-2s suggest war is imminent: Iranian authorities claim they can strike Diego Garcia with precision, but the base is outside the range of most Iranian missiles, more than five times more distant than the range of Iranian precision missiles, and twice the distance of Israel where Iranian missiles often missed their mark.
Simultaneously, long-range bombers at Diego Garcia are nothing new; the United States used B-52 bombers from Diego Garcia against both Iraq and Afghanistan.
After a U.S. drone eliminated Qods Force chief Qassem Soleimani along the Baghdad airport road, the Trump administration dispatched B-52s once again to Diego Garcia not because of imminent war, but rather to deter Iran from unwise retaliation.
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