Iran may attack Israel this week, US aircraft carriers and submarines rush to help | Foreign media observation
2024-08-13
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
The atmosphere in the Middle East suddenly became tense.
On August 11, the US Department of Defense confirmed that US Secretary of Defense Austin had ordered the cruise missile submarine "Georgia" to be sent to the Middle East, and ordered the "Abraham Lincoln" aircraft carrier strike group, which was heading to the Middle East, to speed up.
This decision was made after Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Galant, during which the two discussed "potential retaliatory actions by Iran and its proxies against Israel," and Austin reiterated that the United States would take all possible measures to "defend Israel."
According to information released on the website of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. "Roosevelt" aircraft carrier strike group is already in the area under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Central Command, and the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier carrying F-35 fighter jets (fifth-generation fighter jets with stealth capabilities) will accelerate to the area under the jurisdiction of the Central Command, which will enhance the U.S. military's combat effectiveness in this region.
The United States Central Command is not the highest command organization of the US military. The "Central" here refers to the geographical scope. The command is responsible for the US military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.
The US Department of Defense also made it clear that the USS Georgia would also be sent to the region under the jurisdiction of the Central Command, that is, to the Middle East. The US Central Command publicly stated that the USS Georgia had recently been active in the Mediterranean.
Business Insider reported on the 12th that the US military generally does not disclose information about submarine activities unless it is to deter its competitors. This time, the high-profile disclosure of some details is obviously intended to deter Iran.
After the assassinations of Hezbollah's second-in-command Shukur and Hamas' political leader Haniyeh in late July, Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and other organizations have expressed their intention to retaliate against Israel.
But in the past ten days or so, although Iran has "signaled" its intention to retaliate against Israel on many diplomatic occasions, there are also reports that Iran is hesitating. Moreover, the Iranian delegation to the United Nations told an Arab media two days ago that Iran's retaliatory actions would not hinder the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, which once made people feel that Iran's retaliation against Israel would not be serious, but Lebanon's Hezbollah has very strongly stated that it will attack Israel.
Under such circumstances, why did the United States suddenly and loudly announce that its aircraft carrier strike groups and submarines would go to the Middle East as soon as possible?
A BBC report on the 12th quoted an American expert as saying that Israel and the United States may have obtained certain intelligence in private and learned that Iran had made a decision to attack Israel in the near future.
The report also said that in recent days, many international airlines including Lufthansa, Air France and Swiss International Air Lines have canceled flights to Israel, Iran and its surrounding countries, which seems to indicate that there is intelligence showing that an Iranian attack is imminent.
The American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) website reported that the US government believes that Iran may launch a large-scale attack on Israel this week.
A report on the Israeli Jerusalem Post website on the 12th quoted a retired major general of the Israel Defense Forces as saying that now "no one knows exactly what Iran and Hezbollah will do. The only thing that is certain is that the situation is deteriorating." "Israel is already on the brink of a regional war."
The Israel Times website stated on the 13th that the Israel Defense Forces are already on the highest level of alert.
Many analysts believe that the only way to ease the tension is to end the Gaza War. If Israel and Hamas can reach a ceasefire agreement in a relatively short period of time, the situation may ease. However, the current situation shows that Israel and Hamas still have differences on the ceasefire conditions.
According to the BBC report, Hamas recently said that the conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza have long been "on the table" and there is no need to renegotiate. However, Hamas has not refused to restart ceasefire negotiations.
On the Israeli side, the extreme hardliners represented by Finance Minister Smutrich are opposed to negotiations with Hamas. Although these extreme hardliners with religious overtones are few in number, Netanyahu's party does not have enough seats in the parliament and needs to unite with these people to form a government, so he dare not offend them easily.
The United States is currently joining major European countries in pressuring the Israeli government to demand that the Netanyahu government reach an agreement with Hamas as soon as possible so that the hostages kidnapped by Hamas can be released and a ceasefire can be achieved in Gaza.
It seems that if there is no sign of progress in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations in the near future, Iran and Hezbollah may launch a large-scale attack on Israel.
Text丨Qian Kejin, international commentator of Yangcheng Evening News
