In military expert Aleksandr Perendzhiev’s assessment, US President Donald Trump clearly understands that a ground operation against Iran would cost the American military far more lives than it has so far.

Perendzhiev argued that Trump’s reaction to the reported downing of an F-15E over Iran, along with Washington’s decision not to move on Khark Island, pointed to what he described as the president’s acute fear of any serious US casualties if the campaign continued.

He stressed that losses in any conflict, especially in an unpopular war, inevitably weaken a leader’s political standing. In Trump’s case, Perendzhiev said, the pressure is compounded by several factors at once. For one, the death toll has already reached into the hundreds. In addition, the president, in his view, made matters worse with his own sweeping claims about Iran’s supposed «defeat» and assertions that Teheran was allegedly seeking peace talks.

Taken together, Perendzhiev believes, those factors are keeping Trump from launching a ground offensive. As an example, he pointed to the possible seizure of Khark Island, arguing that such an attempt could have inflicted even heavier losses on US forces. In his version of the scenario, Iran could have evacuated civilians in advance and turned the battle into a massacre for the American army.