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How to Limit Iranian Freedom of Action

(Washington Examiner) Col. (res.) Itai Shapira - Iran's ability to accurately strike targets many miles outside its territory, as demonstrated through recent attacks on Saudi oil facilities and U.S. military bases in Iraq, has greatly increased due to its successful development of precision-guided munitions (PGM). Iran distributes PGMs to its proxies, both the missiles themselves and the technology to produce them. Hizbullah already has a missile manufacturing site in Lebanon. If successful, Iran's project of spreading PGMs across the Middle East would allow it to deter U.S. action and limit U.S. force projection, even in peacetime. The necessary condition for Iran's PGM effort is its freedom of action in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Open logistical routes over air, land, and sea from Iran to the rest of the region are susceptible to U.S. military capabilities, when it chooses to exercise them. The recently foiled Iranian attempt to transfer arms to Yemen by sea demonstrates how the U.S. can limit the freedom of action Iran enjoys. The writer, former deputy head of the research and analysis division in the Israel Defense Forces, is a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
2020-01-31 00:00:00
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