Trump wages war on Iran from Mar-a-Lago as US weapons stocks stretch thinner

(Originally published March 2 in “What in the World“) Trump said his war on Iran will last as long as he wants.

In a video address Sunday, Trump said U.S. forces would continue to bomb Iranian targets “until all of our objectives are achieved.” Yet like all of Trump’s policies, no one—not even Trump it seems—knows precisely what those objectives are.

Trump has made clear he wants an end to Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles production. He has called for Iranians to overthrow their government and for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to surrender. Yet he has also indicated he is willing to talk with whoever takes over from slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike Saturday. Trump is, despite advice that it is impossible in Iran, hoping to replicate the solution so far in Venezuela, where Trump has ended up working with the very government of the dictator he abducted, Nicolás Maduro. A three-man council will run Iran until a new supreme leader is chosen. Trump told The New York Times the war could last “four to five weeks.”

The combined Operation Epic Fury by Israel and the U.S. has:

• hit more than 2,000 targets in Iran.
• The U.S. military said it had struck more than 1,000 targets, including
  • B-2 stealth bombers dropping 2,000-lb bombs on ballistic missile launch sites and
  • sinking an Iranian naval vessel.
  • Trump said nine of Iran’s warships had been destroyed.
• Israel said that it had
  • used 200 warplanes to hit more than 500 targets on Saturday and that,
  • between last June’s attack and this one, it has destroyed roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers and is
  • now targeting Iran’s explosives manufacturing.
• Israel and the U.S. launched a fresh wave of airstrikes Sunday, with
  • Tel Aviv saying it intended to “pave the path to Tehran.”
• Israel also launched strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon after it said the Iran-backed militia fired several rockets toward Israel. Despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israel conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah positions there only a week ago.

Trump also warned there would likely be more U.S. casualties after three were killed in Kuwait, apparently during Iran’s retaliatory launches of at least 390 missiles and 830drones against U.S. bases and allies around the region, including airports and critical infrastructure: “That’s the way it is. Likely be more,” he said.

Iran’s barrage is reportedly challenging the U.S. supply of anti-missile missiles for its Thaads, Patriot and other air defenses around the region. Sea-fired tomahawk cruise missile supplies, which were used heavily during last June’s strike on Iran as well as in attacks against the Houthis and Muslim insurgents in Nigeria, may also be running low. Trump played down such concerns in his interview with The New York Times, however, saying: “We have tremendous amounts of ammunition. You know, we have ammunition stored all over the world in different countries.” But Pax Trumpicana is stretched perilously thin. If China ever did intend to take Taiwan by force, now—with only two U.S. aircraft carrier strike forces in the Pacific, and one of those an amphibious assault ship—might seem like the best time ever.

But the U.S. and Israel aren’t the only ones conducting airstrikes in West Asia. Next door, Pakistan is conducting airstrikes against Afghanistan in retaliation for what it says is Kabul’s failure to quell attacks by the Pakistani Taliban from across their border.