LONDON: United States President Donald Trump may consider launching a military operation against Iran, but the outcome of such action would be highly unpredictable, former British ambassador to Russia Tony Brenton said on Tuesday.
In remarks to Russian news agency TASS, Brenton said it was unclear what objectives Washington could realistically achieve through military action, despite its capability to inflict significant damage.
“It is very hard to see what the objective of that military action can be. He can destroy a lot of things and attempt to behead the regime, but that would be very difficult. You could have a lot of destruction followed by claims of success and withdrawal,” he said, adding that such a scenario could leave the US leadership politically constrained.
Brenton noted that Trump’s negotiating approach typically involves applying maximum pressure in hopes of forcing concessions, which he suggested may explain the deployment of US military assets to the Gulf region. However, he said Iran had so far remained firm and had not yielded to pressure.
He also pointed out that Trump had pledged during his election campaign to avoid prolonged overseas conflicts, indicating the US president might still prefer a diplomatic outcome that would allow him to declare success without engaging in a full-scale war.
Earlier, the White House signalled it was seriously considering the use of force against Iran while expressing hope that Tehran would agree to negotiations and commit to abandoning nuclear weapons ambitions. Iranian authorities, however, have repeatedly stated that they have no intention of developing an atomic bomb