U.S. and Israeli Intelligence: ‘Multiple, credible threats’ from Iran Endanger U.S. Middle East Personnel
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Iran is ‘considering retaliating against U.S. interests in the Gulf’ in response to the Trump administration’s ever-tightening restrictions against the Islamic Republic, according to an anonymous senior Israeli intelligence official.
Information about a putative Iranian plot against U.S. interests and regional allies Saudi Arabia and UAE was shared with National Security Adviser John Bolton at the White House two weeks ago when he was visited by a coterie of Israeli officials led by Meir Ben Shabbat, Israel’s National Security Adviser, Axios reports.
“It is still unclear to us what the Iranians are trying to do and how they are planning to do it, but it is clear to us that the Iranian temperature is on the rise,” the Israeli official related of intelligence reportedly gleaned from the Mossad.
On Monday US acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said a U.S. carrier strike group deployed to the Middle East this week was in answer to a “credible threat by Iranian regime forces,” which could involve U.S. assets stretching anywhere from Amman, Jordan to Erbil and Baghdad in Iraq, to Syria, other U.S. officials suggested.
“Iran continues to sow violence and remains the most significant challenge to Middle East stability,” states the 2018 National Defense Strategy outlining the U.S. Department of Defense’s foreign policy aims for the foreseeable future.