Several reasons have been given personally by President Donald Trump and representatives of his administration as to why the United States is at war with Iran. Among them are destroying Iran's ability to use and produce missiles, destroying the Iranian navy, preventing the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism from acquiring nuclear weapons, and cutting off Iran's support for its friends in the region. Previously, regime change in Tehran was also among the reasons, but President Trump no longer lists this as a goal, German public broadcaster ARD recalls.
Rubio: "We would have suffered greater losses"
Hours later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio pointed out another reason for his country's entry into the war: Israel was on the verge of attacking Iran, even without US support. "We knew the Israelis would act. We knew it would lead to an attack on American troops. And we knew we would have suffered greater losses if we had not taken preventive measures," he said.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, is convinced that the government and the military leadership acted correctly. "If we hadn't done this, if the president and commander-in-chief hadn't done this, then everyone would have had to justify themselves to Congress later," ARD quoted him as saying.
Is the tail wagging the dog?
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, on the other hand, talks about "outsourcing foreign policy decisions." Asserting that he is an extremely strong supporter of Israel, he still asks whether we want Netanyahu to decide when and where Israel will attack, and then the Americans to go to war. "I think this should be discussed," he said.
Former Deputy Director of the Secret Service Beth Sanner is also surprised because it appears that "we cannot control Israel and that "our war against Iran depends on Israel's actions. In other words: the tail is wagging the dog," ARD quoted Sanner as saying to CNN.
Americans are not convinced that the US should wage such a war
The first public opinion polls show that so far President Trump has not managed to convince a majority of his compatriots of the meaning of this war. He must make more efforts, assured Democratic Senator Jen Shaheen.
According to her, the government has provided very contradictory data regarding the strategy, the expected duration and whether this conflict can escalate, as well as what the ultimate goal is, the German public media ARD also points out.
Author: Carsten Künthop (ARD)