Amid mounting fears of retaliation due to U.S. bases near Iran, Iran stated on Friday that the U.S., in its role as a “backer” of Israel, “shall be held fully accountable” for the attacks carried out overnight against Tehran, its nuclear and military installations, and key officials by Jerusalem.
The attacks that killed four military commanders, one Iranian official allegedly involved in the nuclear talks with the U.S., and two nuclear scientists were condemned by the U.N. Mission to Iran in a letter sent to the UN Security Council. The mission added that Israel’s “conduct” in the region “poses a serious threat to international security.”
However, earlier this week, Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh made a warning to attack U.S. sites in the Middle East in the event that Israel were to launch another direct strike on the Persian nation. This came days before a planned nuclear discussions conference between Washington and Tehran in Oman.
In response to initial reports suggesting that Jerusalem was contemplating an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Nasirzadeh stated, “Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don’t come to fruition,” quoted by Reuters. “If a conflict is imposed on us … all U.S. bases are within our reach, and we will boldly target them in host countries.”
It is yet unknown how many Americans are anticipated to leave the Middle East, despite the fact that the Trump administration has permitted military dependents to leave various sites and announced a partial evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Iraq.
Amid widespread concerns, President Trump said reporters on Thursday, “I had to do it.”
A large number of our citizens call this region home. He went on to say, “We need to warn them to evacuate because something could happen soon. I don’t want to be the one who failed to issue a warning and missiles are flying into their buildings,” alluding to the predicted military escalation between Israel and Iran.
Approximately forty thousand service men were stationed across the Middle East in October 2024, according to defense authorities. Many of these locations were within striking distance of Iran.
As per the Council on Foreign Relations, there are a minimum of nineteen locations across the area that are occupied by the United States military, with eight of those locations being deemed permanent.
These locations may be found in nations that share a border with Iran or are physically close to it, such as the UAE, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Israel.
However, concerns have been raised about Tehran’s ability to initiate hostilities with the United States and open a third front in reaction to Israel’s Thursday night strike, given there was no quick defensive response from Tehran.
According to Benham Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “this is not a theoretical exercise” because in January 2020 Iran fired short-range precision strike ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq in order to eliminate Qasem Soleimani, the chief terrorist of the regime. There has been prior evidence that the regime can strike these bases.
“It is possible, and it’s not theoretical, given that the regime has done this in the past and lived to tell the tale,” said the official.
According to Ben Taleblu, Iran is currently trying to gauge if the United States is not only not interested in fighting Tehran directly but is also willing to put some distance between itself and Israel.
“There is a political element to the regime continuously threatening America, which is to try to take advantage of the desire for de-escalation that exists in America,” according to the expert. The goal is to make the United States appear less involved in the Middle East conflict and less of an ally to Israel by creating as much distance between the two countries as possible.
“This is how Tehran is politically, trying to put America on the sidelines when militarily, it might struggle – militarily, it would struggle,” he said.
