By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. military has been bracing for the possibility of weeks of sustained operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a much more serious conflict than seen before between the countries.
The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the plan, raises the stakes for the ongoing diplomacy between the United States and Iran.
US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold talks with Iran on Tuesday in Geneva, with representatives from Oman acting as mediators. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Saturday that while Trump’s preference was to reach a deal with Tehran, “it’s very hard to do.”
Meanwhile, Trump has amassed military forces in the region, sparking fears of further military action. US officials said Friday that the Pentagon is sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops along with fighter jets, guided-missile destroyers and other firepower capable of launching attacks and defending against them.
Trump, speaking after a military event at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Friday, openly floated the possibility of changing Iran’s government, saying it “seems like the best thing that could happen.” He declined to share who wants to take over Iran, but said “it’s people.”
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said.
Trump has long expressed skepticism about sending ground troops to Iran, saying last year, “the last thing you want to do is ground forces,” and the types of American firepower deployed so far in the Middle East suggest options for primarily air and naval strikes. In Venezuela, Trump also showed his willingness to rely on special operations forces to capture that country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, in a raid last month.
Asked to comment on preparations for a possible sustained US military operation, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran.”
“He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what’s best for our country and national security,” Kelly said.
The Pentagon declined to comment.
The United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region last year when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.
However, Operation Midnight Hammer in June was essentially a one-off US strike, with stealth bombers flying from the United States to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran staged a very limited retaliatory strike on a US base in Qatar.
THE RISKS ARE INCREASING
The planning underway this time is more complex, officials said.
In a sustained campaign, the US military could strike Iranian state and security institutions, not just nuclear infrastructure, one of the officials said. The official declined to provide specific details.
Experts say the risks to US forces would be much higher in such an operation against Iran, which boasts a formidable missile arsenal. Iranian retaliatory strikes also increase the risk of regional conflict.
The same official said the United States fully expects Iran to retaliate, which has led to strikes and retaliation over time.
The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about the risks of retaliation or regional conflict.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and crackdown on domestic dissent. On Thursday, he warned that the alternative to a diplomatic solution “would be very traumatic, very traumatic.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that in the event of strikes on Iranian soil, it could retaliate against any US military base.
The US maintains bases throughout the Middle East, including in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Trump for talks in Washington on Wednesday, saying that if a deal were to be reached with Iran, it “must include the elements that are vital to Israel.”
Iran has said it is ready to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, but has ruled out linking the issue to missiles.
Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi said on Saturday that US military intervention in Iran could save lives and urged Washington not to spend too much time negotiating with Tehran’s clerical rulers over a nuclear deal.
The exiled son of Iran’s ousted shah told Reuters in an interview that there were signs the Iranian government was on the brink of collapse and that an attack could weaken it or hasten its downfall.
“We hope that this attack will speed up the process and that people will finally be able to go back to the streets and take it all the way to the ultimate fall of the regime,” said Pahlavi, who is based in the United States and has lived outside Iran since before his father was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Don Durfee, Rosalba O’Brien, Rod Nickel)