Report: US playing for time as Pentagon rushes air defenses to Israel, Arab allies

War with Iran not imminent, American officials say, with US still only capable of limited strikes and lacking sufficient air defenses to protect Israel and Arab allies from Iranian retaliation.

By World Israel News Staff

The US is unlikely to initiate an air campaign against Iran in the immediate future, multiple American officials told The Wall Street Journal in a report published on Sunday, with the US still under-equipped in the region for a large-scale conflict with Tehran.

While the US Navy deployed an aircraft carrier battle group, centered around the USS Abraham Lincoln, to the region last week, American offensive assets in the Middle East remain limited, capable only of limited airstrikes on Iran, the officials said.

As of Saturday, the US had nearly a dozen combat vessels in the Middle East, including seven guided-missile destroyers and at least one nuclear-powered submarine, along with nearly 50,000 personnel, including 13,500 in Kuwait, 10,000 in Qatar, 9,000 in Bahrain, 3,800 in Jordan, 3,500 in the United Arab Emirates, 2,700 in Saudi Arabia, 2,500 in Iraq, and 2,000 in Syria.

In terms of air power in the region, the US has two squadrons of F-35 fighter jets, three squadrons of F-15Es, a squadron of F-16s, a squadron of A-10 attack aircraft, and nine squadrons onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, including four squadrons of fighter jets.

However, the United States still has fewer combat aircraft in forward deployment positions available for immediate strikes on Iran than Israel had available for its June war with the Islamic Republic.

Without a major increase in American forces available in the Middle East, the US is incapable of delivering a crippling opening attack on Iran which could prevent Tehran from launching large-scale counterattacks on American allies.

To shield US bases across the Middle East and to protect Israel and America’s Arab allies, the Pentagon is transferring additional air defense systems to the region, including Patriot missile batteries and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors.

Suzanne Maloney, a former State Department official who specialized in Iran policy, told the Journal that “the air defense question is key – the extent to which we have sufficient materiel to ensure that our troops and assets in the region are going to be protected from some kind of Iranian retaliation.”