Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, told Newsmax on Tuesday that the Biden administration is "trying to have it both ways" with Iran when it comes to attacks on U.S. military installations in the Middle East.
During an appearance on "National Report," Bremmer discussed the U.S. response to a drone attack by Iranian proxies in late January that killed three U.S. service members at a military base in Jordan.
"I don't think the retaliation is over yet," he said. "I expect we will see further attacks. It's very clear that those attacks by the U.S. are larger in scale and also in scope in terms of hitting Iranian military capabilities on the ground — though not in Iran itself — than anything else the U.S. has done. So, it's a clear escalation in response to the nightmare scenario of U.S. servicemen and women getting killed in the region, but it is absolutely inadequate to deter further Iranian military support and intelligence for their proxies in the region or to deter, as we've seen, attacks by their proxies against U.S. bases."
"The Biden administration is trying to have it both ways," Bremmer continued. "They don't want a war against Iran directly. They don't want the economic or military consequences that would bring, but they are trying to deter.
"Essentially, I would say that the overt level of caution that's been shown, the fact that they waited for a week, that they telegraphed to the Iranians and their allies in the region what they were going to do before they did it, helped to ensure that you didn't have direct war but also helped to ensure that nobody's panicking or getting deterred."
When asked if troops in the Middle East should be recalled over the instability in the region, Bremmer said such a move would be a sign of "weakness" to American adversaries.
"You pull troops out in response to these sorts of attacks, and it's going to seem as if you're ceding the landscape to a bunch of terrorists, and that seems like an incredibly weak move to make," he said. "So, even if you don't like the idea of American troops being on the ground — and there're well over 45,000 troops in the region, and this would not be the time to pull them out — that's a display of weakness."
"Having said that, the hope that the Biden administration has is really not in ending these strikes through the counterattacks," he continued. "It's really that they have made progress together with Qatar in trying to get more Hamas-held hostages released in return for what looks to be a four-week cease-fire.
"And if you can get that, that is going to prevent these attacks in the Red Sea and against American troops while that cease-fire is ongoing. Then the hope is you're able to extend it by creating a political and security environment in Gaza that might reduce the scale of the attacks that we've seen since Oct. 7. That's what they're hoping for.
"The first step is plausible. What comes after that is much more difficult."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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