IRAN THREAT IS ACTUALLY MISSILES ON SMALL BOATS, AND AMERICA'S ALLIES THINK TRUMP IS OVERREACTING: REPORT

https://www.newsweek.com/iran-threat-missiles-intelligence-warning-donald-trump-overreacting-allies-1426979

According to The New York Times, multiple unnamed U.S. officials told the newspaper that the U.S.’s dire warnings of devastating retaliation against Iran were based on photographs of paramilitaries loading up small boats with missiles, threats against commercial shipping and indications of possible attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

The Times report said overhead imagery had captured Iranian paramilitaries arming small boats in the Persian Gulf with fully assembled missiles, prompting fears they might be used to attack American ships in the region. Images showed the boats—believed to be under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—being armed at several ports, raising concerns of imminent attack or that the weapons would be transferred to regional Iranian proxies for use in more deniable operations.

Iran’s low-tech navy is no match for the world-leading American vessels, but asymmetric tactics using small boats for conventional missile and even suicide attacks could still inflict significant casualties on a U.S. naval formation and could shut down commercial shipping in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

As well as freshly armed vessels, American officials told The Times the U.S. had picked up threats against commercial shipping in the region. Last weekend’s sabotage attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates showed the impact such operations could have. Iran claimed innocence, and the U.S. said it did not yet have conclusive proof of Tehran’s involvement. The U.S. Maritime Administration warned all ships to exercise caution when traveling past the area.

Other intelligence reportedly indicated Iran might try to use pro-Tehran militias in Iraq to attack U.S. troops or facilities there. This convinced the State Department on Wednesday to withdraw all nonemergency staff from its embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil.

https://www.newsweek.com/us-iran-trump-little-support-war-1426578

U.S.-IRAN CRISIS: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS LITTLE INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR WAR

With the U.S. drawing up military options against Iran and pulling diplomatic staff Wednesday from neighboring Iraq amid alleged Tehran-tied threats to U.S. interests in the region, temperatures were running even higher than usual in the Persian Gulf. The U.S., traditionally a nation of robust international alliances, has managed to gradually erode its partnerships since Trump took office in 2017, however, and Washington has found itself largely alone in its approach to the current crisis.

Having unilaterally walked away from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal also signed by China, the E.U., France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom and having threatened the world with sanctions for trading with Tehran, a hawkish White House's "maximum pressure" campaign has been met with deep skepticism by friends and foes alike.

"The administration’s policy has clearly been to portray Iran as the bad guy here. Iran isn't the bad guy here for a change," Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at The Century Foundation think tank and the Belfer Center at Harvard University's Kennedy School. "It's important to highlight that, on this issue, America is really isolated; Europe, Russia, China, no one is really buying into this push against Iran."