Khodarenok Said Trump’s Iran Threats Could Trigger Middle East Escalation
Mikhail Khodarenok said Donald Trump’s harsh statements about Iran could lead to renewed US-Iran strike exchanges and divert air defense resources away from Ukraine.
Military expert Mikhail Khodarenok believes that harsh statements by US President Donald Trump about Iran could lead to a new round of armed confrontation in the Middle East.
He recalled a recent speech by the American leader in which Trump sharply criticized Iran and its population and also threatened to destroy the country. In Khodarenok’s assessment, wars sometimes begin over less significant pretexts, and after such statements the likelihood of conflict becomes especially high.
The expert believes that new exchanges of missile and air strikes between the US military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can now be expected. In this regard, he called a large-scale conflict in the Middle East more than likely.
At the same time, Khodarenok noted that the outcome of such a confrontation could remain limited if events develop according to the previous scenario — with strikes from maritime directions and air operations. According to him, it would be difficult to achieve a serious result by these means alone, since the United States currently has no large ground force groupings in the region capable of conducting a land offensive.
The expert allowed that renewed mutual strikes between Iran and the United States may ultimately lead to nothing except another deterioration of the international situation.
Khodarenok also believes that Iran will almost certainly respond to US actions. However, since Tehran will not be able to strike directly at US territory, neighboring countries that host American military bases will be under threat.
Against this background, the expert made another forecast. In his opinion, Washington’s allies in the region will now have to increase their efforts in the field of air and missile defense.
Khodarenok believes that available resources and stockpiles will be directed there. In his assessment, this will happen at the expense of Ukraine, which is increasingly loudly complaining about a shortage of missiles for air defense systems.