In news that is certain to ring in your weekend with style, the ABC reports that the United States may be ready to bomb specific targets in Iran as early as next month, and that US President Donald Trump‘s regime could seek Australian help for that endeavour.
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A high-ranking but unnamed national security source claimed the US is nearly prepared to pull the trigger on sites related to Iran’s nuclear programme, after rising tensions between Iranian leadership and Trump himself.
Iran, which has long provoked the US-allied state of Israel, had signed an agreement under the Obama administration curtailing its nuclear development in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
But the Trump administration ripped that all to shreds and announced plans to whack those sanctions back on in November. That move didn’t sit too well with Iran, and President Hassan Rouhani advised the US not to get too worked up – lest there be a serious backlash.
And then, well, this happened.
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
Sources told the ABC that Australian agencies could theoretically help isolate potential targets as part of our ongoing Five Eyes intelligence pact with the US, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand.
However, they reiterated there’s a big difference between singling out sites of interest and actually moving forward with an actual military campaign.
Recent history has shown that American-led wars in the Middle East don’t exactly go to plan for them, or for allied Australian forces. Whether that lesson has been internalised by Trump and Co. is… yet to be seen.
