U.S. intelligence has ascertained that Iran does not have full operational authority over its proxy terror groups in the Middle East, including the group that killed three American service members in a drone strike last week, Politico reported Thursday.
The U.S. has fingered the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq as the group likely to have carried out the deadly attack. The U.S. has also ascertained that the drone used in the attack was Iranian-built. Iran denied any involvement in the attack on Tower 22 in Jordan, saying it had "no connection."
The U.S. isn't buying it. President Joe Biden has authorized strikes on Iranian personnel and facilities in Iraq and Syria, CBS News reported Thursday.
The Quds Force, a wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), provides weapons and strategic support to Tehran's militias in Iraq and Syria as well as the Houthis in Yemen, according to the Politico report. But the splinter groups aren't always 100% aligned with Tehran, and it's not believed that Tehran is commanding the attacks, according to Politico.
But Iran is backing the groups, including Hamas in Gaza, financially. Further muddying the waters is that since the attack on the American forces in Jordan that also wounded more than 40, another group, Kataib Hezbollah, announced it will suspend military operations against U.S. forces. Kataib Hezbollah is also part of the umbrella group with the Islamic Resistance.
"This is perhaps the most complicated period that I have seen in this region," one U.S. official told Politico.
While mulling a just military response to Saturday's American fatalities, the first in the region since Hamas terrorists instigated the war with Israel on Oct. 7, Biden has repeatedly said that he doesn't want to risk broader conflict in the Middle East. He wants to avoid all-out war.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, blasted Biden for the "binary" thinking.
"Why the president said that, I don't know. Nobody is talking about going to actual war. There's nobody introducing a bill to declare war on Iran right now. That's really not on the table," Crenshaw told Newsmax on Tuesday. "But you do need deterrence.
"People ... don't understand the Middle East; they don't understand foreign relations; they don't understand war. And so people believe that it's a binary choice," Crenshaw said. "You either do nothing and you let them keep hitting you, or you're in an all-out war. And that's never true. There's a lot of options in between."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.