spoiler
Senator Chris Murphy says he has been briefed on the US’s plan to restart the war on Iran, calling it “insane” and saying it would lead to a “devastating escalation”.
“You’ve heard a preview that it would be a short-duration plan. I’ll just say this: their plan is insane,” Murphy said, speaking at an event organised by the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
“It will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law.”
Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees, made the comments after American media reported on Wednesday that the US warned several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military offensive against Iran after the US midterm elections on 3 November.
The warning sent by diplomatic and military channels is the latest indication that the US and Israel are preparing to launch another round of attacks against Iran, in an effort to weaken Tehran and force it to negotiations, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
“There’s been open reporting as to what we may be planning and the civilian infrastructure we may be targeting,” Murphy said.
"They’ve been asked by the president to develop a plan - whether they believe it will work or not, I do not know. But the plan that they have developed will lead, in my view, to a prolongment and an escalation of this war that will be devastating for our security interests.
“We are seeing the president ready another devastating military campaign after the election, just as illegal as the first iteration was at the time, where Americans are fed up with this war.”
Murphy spoke at the Middle East Institute about his trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia earlier this month, assessing the war’s impact on the region. He is the first Democratic senator to visit the region since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February. Murphy met with leaders including Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The WSJ reported that US forces have been restocking their munitions in the region, and bomber aircraft and jet fighters are preparing for attacks, according to officials.
It also reported that the US military is moving a Patriot missile defence system from Texas to Israel to support defences, according to flight-tracking data and two officials. The Patriot system includes radar equipment, missile launchers and interceptor missiles.
Next month, an aircraft carrier strike group and a Marine expeditionary unit will also join around 20 other warships operating in the Middle East, the report said.
Last week, the US press also reported that US troops and diplomats have been evacuating posts in the Middle East.
NBC News reported that the State Department ordered a further reduction in staff at diplomatic posts in the region.
‘A cover-up’
Murphy said during his trip that he was part of a number of classified briefings and spoke to military leadership about the damage and “the reality” there.
“Our base in Bahrain is obliterated; it is not usable, and our base in Qatar is usable but at a much lower level capacity, and it is pretty clear that we still don’t have the ability to protect any of our diplomats or our troops… right now,” he said.
Murphy added that he saw first-hand the US’s “cover-up” in hiding the cost of war.
“The trip was incredibly valuable, not just to get a sense of how rattled the entire region is, but to really see first-hand a cover-up that is underway, a dizzying and coordinated attempt to try to hide from the American people and from Congress the costs and the consequences of this war,” he said.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen in my now 20 years in the United States Congress.”
The Pentagon told Congress last week that the US-Israeli war on Iran, now in its eighth month, had cost the US $47.1bn through 16 October, a rise from the previous $37.5bn cited by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Bombs, missiles and other types of ammunition made up over 60 percent of the total costs.
US President Donald Trump hasn’t made a final decision yet, but is inclined towards launching a major attack that could target Iranian infrastructure and nuclear sites, according to several reports.
“We may do another little Epic Fury,” Trump said at a rally in Florida last week, using the US military’s term for its war on Iran.
“It will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law.”
Commitment to the rule of law??? Is this guy seeing the same Amerikkka as everyone else?
…escalation of this war that will be devastating for our security interests.
(emphasis mine)
This is one of the more favored sitting democrats among libs, and he can’t even say that it would be a tragedy to massacre more innocent people, just that he’s concerned about our “security interests.” They are all irredeemable.
rule of law
Senator, where before now was any of this not fucking insane?
“destruction of our commitment to the rule of law” …
... I'm sorry, I stopped reading right there.many years now of trump just ignoring court orders, and democrats still believe in the rule of law, because then that lets them do Republican style shit(cause theyre republicans)
I can hardly tell if he is against it. Almost reads like he is playing the straight man to pump up the legitimacy and strength of potential military incursion. To scare the US’ opponents into acquiescing to avoid the consequences of resistance.
Trump is going to nuke Iran isn’t he
I see it either being a tactical nuke used against a hardened target like a missile city or a token invasion to hold any piece of land like Kharg Island. Either would meet the bar for “insane”, but I can’t tell which would be worse for optics in Trump’s mind. Video compilations of Iranian drones wiping out the invasion fleet might be worse to Trump than a video of a big explosion answering “what if Hitler got the bomb?”. Hogs have been calling for generic nuclear strikes against any Middle Eastern country they can name since 9/11. Kharg Island would at least make strategic sense for the military even if it’s probably a lost battle. If Iran doesn’t surrender after being nuked, the US is just in a nuclear war against a power whose missiles they can’t intercept and the rest of the world will fall behind Iran.
I could see a world in which nuking the entrances to the missile cities makes it extremely difficult for Iran to dig them out. That to me is an insane yet understandable move
i thought they had a bunch of excavation equipment already inside the tunnels so they could bore out new exits
Sure but people have to use said equipment and those people probably will struggle to work in an environment that has been recently nuked
i’m baking in a supposition that the tunnel system is long enough that there would be places to dig out that are not downwind of a nuke
Definitely a possibility
the rest of the world will fall behind Iran
do you mean the world will back up iran or the world will fall after iran?
Yes, and if no then yes.
If that line is crossed and it doesn’t result in the US being totally ostracised, nukes are just any other weapon. American gunboat diplomacy would be turbocharged and I think demystifying post-1945 nuclear war will make it more likely in other conflicts like India/Pakistan. Right now they’re the WW3 doomsday weapon that you only use in the most cataclysmic circumstances.
not difficult to imagine these people saying “I don’t know what all the fuss is about”
please stop calling them people. they disqualify themselves from that
Western liberals would still call Iran evil while living in the sole country that used nukes thrice in conventional warfare.
He could also be planning to “bomb them back to the stone age”. In that he’d have the military attempt to totally destroy power, water, fuel infrastructure as well as potentially other infrastructure like communications, food warehouse, etc. Basically destroy supply networks and immiserate the population to attempt to get them to bend the knee.
Would not be surprised if this idea wasn’t already floated.
It’s going to be a nuke on Tehran while this motherfucker is playing charades instead of outright warning people about it
say goodbye to israel then
Insane in the sense of “insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results”
our commitment to the rule of law of capitalist jungle
FTFH
“Our base in Bahrain is obliterated; it is not usable, and our base in Qatar is usable but at a much lower level capacity, and it is pretty clear that we still don’t have the ability to protect any of our diplomats or our troops… right now,” he said.
There are over 20 mid air refueling aircraft (KC-135 and KC-46) stationed in Qatar… That’s not much lower level capacity. I don’t think US politicians are used to what an actual war is and any damage = destroyed in their minds, because the US must be invincible. In the 20 years that this guy was in congress, did the US ever fight an air war on this scale? No.
Here’s the latest Sentinel 2 imagery from Copernicus
27 large aircraft on the Aprons/Ramps. The North Ramp is almost full. This is campaign speak by Murthy.
I think people underestimate the capacity for a major militaries to rapidly repair and rebuild bases and equipment. They did genuinely get pretty fucked up during the initial stages of the war, and that was super embaressing for the USA, but these kinds of facilities can get rebuilt and repaired very quickly. So Iran’s strategy is obviously to keep applying pressure or the threat of pressure to these bases to disrupt operations and make attacks costly… which may not be working very well, unfortunately.
