On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” NBC News Military Analyst Col. Jack Jacobs (Ret.) stated that Iran “is probably going to continue to encourage its allies to attack the way they are” and Iran sees a reluctance from the U.S. to hit Iran directly.
Co-host Becky Quick asked, “Already, you’ve got Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) saying we should attack immediately. … Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) really raised the stakes. He said anything less than to answer these attacks with a devastating military retaliation will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief. Why do you think the attacks will be more limited, the return strikes?”
Jacobs responded, “Well, the United States has been reluctant to conduct any attacks, and in doing of any the attacks, the counterstrikes, has been limited in what the administration perceives to be proportional. And the principle reason is that the perception in Washington is that anything more than that will widen the war. Critics say, and probably properly so, that Iran’s allies don’t need any excuse to continue or even widen their attacks. Iran is fairly well convinced, and probably properly, that the United States is reluctant to attack Iran directly. Now, Iran is not particularly interested in engaging in a war with the United States. And, as a result of that, is probably going to continue to encourage its allies to attack the way they are. But there’s going to be a groundswell of criticism that the United States needs to widen its attacks and therefore widen the war. But Joe Biden has got a political problem. On the one hand, if he widens the war, he’s open to criticism, and if he doesn’t, he’s open to criticism. It’s going to be extremely difficult for the administration to react properly to these attacks.”
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