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US sending more F-16 & F-35 fighter jets into Iran war · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Kevin, I know you have new reporting that the US
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  Speaker 1: is sending additional military aircraft to the Middle East right now,
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  Speaker 1: what's the latest?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and this coming as the President is weighing whether
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  Speaker 2: to widen this conflict. Now the US sending additional F
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  Speaker 2: sixteen and F thirty five fighter jets from bases in
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  Speaker 2: Europe towards the Middle East. The US is also increasing
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  Speaker 2: the number of aerial refueling tankers that are in the region.
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  Speaker 2: All as these tensions escalate, with Iran last night Sentcom
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  Speaker 2: saying that it had carried out the ninth consecutive night
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  Speaker 2: of strikes against that country. You see both sides of
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  Speaker 2: this increasingly going after some very sensitive civilian infrastructure, including
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  Speaker 2: water desalination plants. The US has been hitting roads in
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  Speaker 2: bridges in southern Iran. But at the same time, I
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  Speaker 2: think what these deaths over the weekend really underscore is
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  Speaker 2: that Iran has retained some fairly significant missile and drone capabilities,
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  Speaker 2: kind of puncturing the president's claims of total military dominance.
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  Speaker 2: What you also hear US officials worry about is that
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  Speaker 2: these desks could potentially show that Iran is beginning how
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  Speaker 2: to learned how to evade a US air defenses in
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  Speaker 2: its bases across the region. So some real concerns about
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  Speaker 2: what an escalation could potentially portend for those US troops
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  Speaker 2: that are arrayed across the Middle East. At the same time,
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  Speaker 2: you hear diplomats say that they are not closed the
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  Speaker 2: door to returning to negotiations. What Secretary of State Mark
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  Speaker 2: Rubio he's traveling in Asian Wolf. He told reporters overnight
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  Speaker 2: that the US remains willing to engage in negotiations quote
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  Speaker 2: if that door opens, and he said that Iran had
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  Speaker 2: communicated both directly and indirectly that they were open to
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  Speaker 2: returning to the bargaining table.
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  Speaker 1: The US is planning to said, additional F sixteen fighter jets,
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  Speaker 1: F thirty five fighter jets, along with more aerial refueling
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  Speaker 1: tankers to the Middle East as these tensions clearly, So
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  Speaker 1: this is pretty significant right now.
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  Speaker 3: It is. And you know, when you look at what
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  Speaker 3: we already have in the Golf region, You've got, of course,
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  Speaker 3: a carrier strike groups that are in the Arabian Sea
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  Speaker 3: and near the Persian Gulf. You've got the aircraft that
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  Speaker 3: already based in areas of the Middle East, including Jordan,
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  Speaker 3: and Saudi Arabia as well as United Arab Emirates and Kata,
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  Speaker 3: So those areas are going to get beefed up. Basically,
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  Speaker 3: the airplanes that you mentioned, the fighters as well as
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  Speaker 3: the aerial refueling tankers are also probably going to be
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  Speaker 3: augmented by other aircraft such as reconnaissance aircraft and other
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  Speaker 3: drones potentially as well. And if all of that moves forward,
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  Speaker 3: they'll be coming from Europe, and that will basically set
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  Speaker 3: the stage for even further military offensives and basically a
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  Speaker 3: military campaign against Iran, one that is even more extensive
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  Speaker 3: than what we've seen so far.
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  Speaker 1: Joining US now as ambassador, Dennis Rossi was a special
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  Speaker 1: assistant to President Obama on the Middle East peace process
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  Speaker 1: as a councilor over at the Washington Institute for Near
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  Speaker 1: East Policy, Dennis, thanks so much for joining us. Do
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  Speaker 1: you expect there will be larger fallout from the deaths
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  Speaker 1: of these US service members? Is this war with Iran
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  Speaker 1: now going to dramatically escalate?
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  Speaker 4: I don't know that it's going to dramatically escalate, although
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  Speaker 4: it's clear the US is moving F fifteens and F
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  Speaker 4: thirty five, so the region is also moving additional area
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  Speaker 4: refueling tankers. So that suggests we're probably going to increase
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  Speaker 4: the scope and intensity of the attacks are going to
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  Speaker 4: carry out. The Iranians, as you just noted, have hit
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  Speaker 4: seven different states in the region, So there is a
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  Speaker 4: dynamic here that seems to be an escalatory one. But
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  Speaker 4: it's also noteworthy that A the Iranians are not hitting Israel,
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  Speaker 4: which suggests they know that Israel would hit back in
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  Speaker 4: a big way. B. The United States is still not
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  Speaker 4: hitting certain kinds of targets, meaning we're not hitting power plans,
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  Speaker 4: we're not going after energy facilities. Reason for that is
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  Speaker 4: we're seeing that the Iranians have the ability to hit
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  Speaker 4: similar kinds of targets in the Gulf States. I think
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  Speaker 4: when they hit Kuwait and they hit the desalization plant
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  Speaker 4: and electricity related facility and oil related facility, that was
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  Speaker 4: their way of signaling if you hit these kinds of
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  Speaker 4: targets within Iran, we will hit those kinds of targets
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  Speaker 4: in Saudi Arabia, the UA, and elsewhere, and the impact
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  Speaker 4: on oil prices will be dramatic. So I think there
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  Speaker 4: is still a conflict that is being fought within certain bounds. Well,
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  Speaker 4: if the basic problem is there's no way out of
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  Speaker 4: the current impact because the Uranians are insisting they will
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  Speaker 4: control the Straits and we're saying they will not.
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  Speaker 1: The Secretary of State Marko Rubio says the US is
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  Speaker 1: still open to diplomacy with Iran. Iranian officials say they
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  Speaker 1: were also open to it. But how does diplomacy even
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  Speaker 1: restart at this point with this war escalating.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it's not unusual to have force and diplomacy operate
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  Speaker 4: at the same time. Oftentimes each side is using force
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  Speaker 4: to try to affect the terms of a negotiation. I
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  Speaker 4: think that's what we're seeing at this point. I think
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  Speaker 4: both sides actually would like to find a way out.
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  Speaker 4: Our reimposition of the blockade has dramatically damaged further and
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  Speaker 4: already desperate economy within Iran. The IERGC, the Revolutionary Guard
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  Speaker 4: leadership may speak strongly and boldly about how that's not
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  Speaker 4: going to affect them, but the truth is it does
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  Speaker 4: have an effect on them. But the same is true here.
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  Speaker 4: The present is clearly sensitive to the idea of oil
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  Speaker 4: prices going dramatically higher. Each side would like to find
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  Speaker 4: a way out, but neither side wants to look like
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  Speaker 4: it's backing down. It's in that context that you have
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  Speaker 4: mediators like the countries offering new proposals to start with
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  Speaker 4: a ten day cease fire, and then you come up
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  Speaker 4: with what might be some new mechanisms that involve many
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  Speaker 4: of the states in the region as part of the
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  Speaker 4: management to the streets. Each side is going to need
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  Speaker 4: some way out. The one thing from an American standpoint
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  Speaker 4: that I think is essential Iran cannot be in control
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  Speaker 4: of the straits of Hermose when all this ends. Let's
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  Speaker 4: recall wolf that on February twenty seventh, the straits were open. Supposedly,
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  Speaker 4: our main objective was about preventing Iran from ever having
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  Speaker 4: a nuclear weapon. But our whole focus right now seems
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  Speaker 4: to be on reopening the streets, which, by the way,
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  Speaker 4: we're opened prior to the war.
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  Speaker 1: How deep, Dennis are the fractures within Iran's regime right now?
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  Speaker 1: We still haven't seen, as you know, the new Supreme leader,
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  Speaker 1: he was injured, his father was killed in the opening
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  Speaker 1: days of the war. Are we even sure who is
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  Speaker 1: in charge right now?
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  Speaker 4: Historically, I would just note that we've always seen factions
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  Speaker 4: within the Iranian elite. That's not new but the Supreme
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  Speaker 4: Leader was always the arbiter and always a decision maker.
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  Speaker 4: Right now, we don't know what the real status of
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  Speaker 4: the Supreme Leader is. He hasn't been seen. Statements are issued,
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  Speaker 4: they're probably written by others. I think what we're seeing
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  Speaker 4: is a kind of balance of power where maybe the
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  Speaker 4: Supreme Leader has some role, but there's probably a balance
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  Speaker 4: of power where the dominant voice at this point is
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  Speaker 4: really reflecting the Revolutionary Guard. But I do think the
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  Speaker 4: President Posesski and the head the Speaker of the Parliament Golliboff,
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  Speaker 4: I think they are part of the decision making process.
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  Speaker 4: It still seems that the Revolutionary Guard has greater sway,
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  Speaker 4: but again there's a kind of balance of power at
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  Speaker 4: this point, favoring one side a little bit more. The
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  Speaker 4: longer this goes on, the greater the pressures from within.
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  Speaker 4: Given what's happening to the economy. I still think we
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  Speaker 4: will see an interest on their part to find a
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  Speaker 4: way out. The problem is they think they can outlast
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  Speaker 4: President Trump, and that's really I think why we're seeing
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  Speaker 4: the dynamic we are right now.
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  Speaker 1: As you know, Israel says it will respond and respond
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  Speaker 1: militarily to any future attack from Iran or its proxies
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  Speaker 1: for that matter. What does Israel want right now? How
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  Speaker 1: do you see it?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think there's what the Prime Minister wants in
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  Speaker 4: terms of the politics of the situation, and I think
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  Speaker 4: he would still like to be able to inflict much
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  Speaker 4: more damage on the Iranian ballistic missile capability. It's inventories
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  Speaker 4: and the like, But he's not in a position to
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  Speaker 4: make decisions. It's the President of United States who's making decisions,
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  Speaker 4: and I think the President at this point doesn't seem
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  Speaker 4: to want the Israelis to be involved. It's ironic that
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  Speaker 4: the Iranians don't seem to want the Israelis to be involved.
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  Speaker 4: The only way the Israelis become involved is if the
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  Speaker 4: President changes his mind and or the Iranians hit Israel.
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  Speaker 4: At this point, they are avoiding that. So I still
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  Speaker 4: think even though within Israel, I think there's a strong
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  Speaker 4: sense that something could happened this week where Israel is
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  Speaker 4: drawn in my sense at this point is that basically
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  Speaker 4: neither the United States nor the Iranians seem to want
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  Speaker 4: Israeli Is involved, because I still think there's a desire
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  Speaker 4: at least on the part of the President to keep
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  Speaker 4: this more limited. I think we're going to see him
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  Speaker 4: try to strike a balance where he's going to do
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  Speaker 4: much more this week in the hopes that by hitting
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  Speaker 4: the Iranians even harder with the blockade, they will come
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  Speaker 4: around and look for a way out. Now. Whether we
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  Speaker 4: can get to that point right now, given the kind
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  Speaker 4: of zero sum quality of each side wanting an outcome
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  Speaker 4: that the other can't really live with, that remains to
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  Speaker 4: be seen. But I still think we're seeing each side
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  Speaker 4: operate within certain limits, and the mediators may come up
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  Speaker 4: with something as things begin to look worse that allows
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  Speaker 4: each side to take a step back. That I think
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  Speaker 4: is the hope for the moment.