Add The New York Post on Google Iran is growing more aggressive in its attacks on US warships, including an aircraft carrier — firing three strikes in the past week in a clear act of escalation not seen since the start of the war.
While Iran has mainly focused its strikes on US and ally bases in the Middle East for most of the war, Tehran has now appeared to set its sights on the Navy vessels maintaining the blockade that is choking its economy.
The new attacks have led to much closer calls than before as US officials grow concern that Iran’s targeting ability has vastly improved since the start of the conflict, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Iran’s latest attack saw the regime target 10 US ships near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, with Tehran firing medium-range ballistic missiles at the vessels.
The missiles were reportedly armed with advanced technology and capable of maneuvering mid-flight to reach their target, similar to the electro-optical seekers Iran began testing last year, according to multiple reports.
The quick advances and improved targeting ability have also raised concerns that Iran has gotten help from Russia or China on developing the weapon, sources told the WSJ.
While Iran’s latest volleys have been unsuccessful, according to US Central Command, it has forced the US and its allies to use more of its dwindling supply of million dollar interceptors to take out Iranian missiles worth a fraction of the cost.
The renewed intensity of the attacks, including a mass barrage on a military base in Jordan, also suggests Iran has rebuilt some of its missile firing systems that were buried by the initial US strikes at the start of the war.
Analysts have warned that Iran’s goal is make the war as costly as possible for the US, with Tehran vowing to do as much harm as possible leading up to the midterm elections in November.
The attacks, coupled with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels’ latest strike on Saudi oil facilities, caused the price of crude to shoot above $105 per barrel on Thursday, a jump not seen since May.
The escalating attacks are also likely a response to America’s “Operation Economic Outcast,” the new sanction regime that is inflicting greater pains on Iran’s battered economy and isolating it from its financial supporters.
“Iran is escalating because they don’t see other options,” Marc Sievers, a former US ambassador to Oman, told the WSJ. “They’re under tremendous pressure from the blockade and the new sanctions.”
President Trump told NewsNation’s International Correspondent Robert Sherman on Thursday that Iran may not hold out much longer, suggesting that the regime could buckle in the coming months.
“I don’t know that they’re gonna be able to hold out. But it’ll get settled after the elections,” he said. “Or maybe sooner. But it’ll get settled right after the election.”
Trump also warned recently that Iran would be “totally wiped out as a country” if it continued to retaliate against US forces in the region.
