Iran eyes US military targets in Europe: Financial Times

Iran has weighed attacking US military targets in Europe should Donald Trump escalate the war, according to people close to the regime, as Tehran considers its options to increase the stakes of the conflict, sources close to the Iranian government told the Financial Times.

According to them Iranian forces have assessed striking US assets in south-eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, which last month approved the use of its Bezmer air base for US refuelling aircraft.

One of the insiders added that Cyprus, where a British air base was struck by a drone in March, was also among potential targets for retaliation in the event of any renewed US offensive.

Furthermore, Iran was considering attacks on undersea fiber-optic cables in the Strait of Hormuz.

Sources stated that in the event of a new conflict, Tehran could expand its strikes beyond the Middle East. ” “Should the US go too far, Iran will defend itself at any price, go beyond the region and hit Europe too,” one of the sources said.

The publication notes that Tehran may find it more advantageous to act through allied forces in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Simultaneously, The Wall Street Journal writes, that Iran’s hard-line leaders huddled in Tehran and came up with a different plan, according to Iranian and Arab officials. In their view the pact was likely just an attempt by the U.S. and Israel to take pressure off the global economy and buy time for a bigger attack down the road. Instead of putting faith in talks, they took the past two months to prepare for a bigger fight.

Instead of putting faith in talks, they took the past two months to prepare for a bigger fight.

Their efforts include giving the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps more control of the country’s regular army, appointing hardened veterans of the war with Iraq and past internal crackdowns to key posts, expanding domestic counterintelligence operations and ramping up production of missiles and drones.

Arab intelligence officials have picked up evidence—including communications between Iran and militia allies in countries such as Yemen and Iraq—of a strategic shift inside the country’s hard-line leadership to get their forces ready to widen the war and raise the costs for the U.S., officials familiar with the findings say.

WSJ sources also reported that Tehran is waiting for attempts to provoke internal unrest.