Michael Pregent, a terrorism expert for the National Defense University, said it appears Iran deliberately missed hitting Americans in missile attacks in Iraq in order to avoid a “retaliatory strike by U.S. forces.”
Pregent, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who once worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency, made his remarks Wednesday in a column posted by Fox News.
“Iran had to strike back at the U.S. in some way after an American drone attack ordered by President (Donald) Trump killed Iranian terrorist Gen. Qassem Soleimani and other terrorists Friday morning in Iraq,” he said.
“But the leaders of the Iranian regime are smart enough to know that if they had killed Americans in their retaliatory attack, Trump would have responded with deadly force.
“This could have sparked a rapidly escalating series of strikes and counterstrikes as each side hit back at the other and could have eventually led to a costly war that would have hurt Iran far more than the U.S.”
He noted Iran had called on the U.S. not to strike back after the missile attacks at bases where U.S. troops are stationed.
Pregent said it was a “clear indication that Iran wants to avoid further military conflict with the far more powerful American forces.”
“The lesson here is that despite Iran’s tough talk and threats, it fears the power of the U.S. and doesn’t want a military confrontation with America that could lead to a U.S. invasion – the fate that befell its neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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