America’s Covert War on Iran

Stand for Israel | June 25, 2019

GULF-SHIPPING-OIL-US-IRAN-JAPAN-NORWAY-DIPLOMACY — A picture obtained by AFP from Iranian News Agency ISNA on June 13, 2019 reportedly shows fire and smoke billowing from Norwegian owned Front Altair tanker said to have been attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman. - Suspected attacks left two tankers in flames in the waters of the Gulf of Oman today, sending world oil prices soaring as Iran helped rescue stricken crew members. The mystery incident, the second involving shipping in the strategic sea lane in only a few weeks, came amid spiralling tensions between Tehran and Washington, which has pointed the finger at Iran over earlier tanker attacks in May. (Photo by - / ISNA / AFP) (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

As the United States tries to avoid all-out war with Iran, there are other ways it is combating Iranian aggression. Israel Hayom’s Neta Bar writes that officials in the U.S. military and intelligence communities are working to undermine and disarm the Iranian regime:

The White House has tasked US intelligence and military officials with finding new means of deterring Iran’s aggression in the Persian Gulf while avoiding an escalation that could lead to an all-out war, The New York Times reported, Sunday.
According to current and former US officials with knowledge of the effort, the goal is to replicate the type of clandestine attacks that Iran is believed to have recently carried out on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf but which Tehran denies.
One such example of this effort is the cyberattacks the US carried out against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards computer and weapons systems on Thursday in response to Iran’s downing of a US drone.
According to a senior US military official, the White House has a number of options at its disposal that could undermine the ayatollah regime and convince Iran to cease it provocative activity in the Middle East, but which would not be clearly attributed to the US.
As National Defense University professor Sean McFate told The Times, “If we want to fight back, do it in the shadows…”