The United States is preparing for the possibility of a broader military campaign against Iran, according to a report citing a U.S. official, even as concerns grow within the Pentagon that depleted weapons stockpiles, damage to regional bases and questions surrounding troop readiness could complicate any expanded operation.
According to The Washington Post, a U.S. official said Washington is "planning for a wider war" while increasing the number of military aircraft deployed to the Middle East. The official cautioned, however, that the military's ability to sustain a larger campaign could be constrained by logistical challenges, infrastructure damage and concerns that some forces may not yet be prepared for potential ground operations inside Iran.
The report comes as fighting between the United States and Iran continues to intensify across the region. U.S. Central Command said a U.S. service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday, bringing the reported American death toll in the conflict to 17. More than 400 U.S. troops have also been wounded since hostilities escalated.
The latest casualty followed another attack on a U.S. military installation in Jordan that killed two American service members. In response, the United States carried out additional airstrikes Sunday targeting facilities associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, continuing a campaign that has steadily expanded over recent weeks.
Late Sunday, U.S. Central Command announced that it had completed a ninth consecutive night of military operations inside Iran.
According to the military, the latest strikes targeted "Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to further diminish Iran's ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz."
Beyond military targets, the conflict has increasingly affected civilian infrastructure. Reports indicate that U.S. strikes have damaged bridges, electrical facilities and water desalination plants in Iran, leaving approximately 10,000 people without water. Iranian retaliatory attacks have reportedly targeted power and desalination facilities in Kuwait and elsewhere in the Gulf region, raising concerns that the conflict could spread further across the Middle East.
Iranian leaders have continued issuing increasingly forceful warnings. Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei threatened "unforgettable lessons" if Washington maintains its military campaign against the Islamic Republic. Iran's joint military command also declared that U.S. "covetousness, bullying, totalitarianism or brutality" would meet with a "devastating response."
The regional security picture became more complicated Monday after Yemen's Houthi movement, an Iranian-aligned group, announced what it described as a maritime embargo targeting Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the Houthis said the measure was based on the "equation of 'an eye for an eye'" and pledged to "respond to all escalation with all escalation, thus solidifying this equation."
The group also warned Saudi Arabia that it was prepared "for all options, and any foolish act committed by the reckless Saudi enemy through all escalation will be met with a comprehensive and decisive escalation by Allah's will and power."
