A month since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran, President Donald Trump doesn’t have any easy way-out options, says Trita Parsi, executive vice-president of Quincy Institute. In an interview with The Hindu, he says Israel and the U.S. have different objectives in the war. If the U.S. launches a ground offensive in Iran, it would be more difficult for Mr. Trump to declare victory and exit, he adds. Edited excerpts.
What is your assessment of the way the conflict is unfolding? Are the United States and Israel losing the war?
The United States is not winning the war. The Israelis, however, are probably quite happy regardless. And I think this is important to understand because the objectives of Israel and the United States here are very different. And the costs the Israelis and the United States are willing to pay are very, very different. From the Israeli standpoint, they want this war to continue as long as possible, in order to degrade, if not destroy, Iran’s industrial base, its economic base, its diplomatic, political and military base, in order to set it back decades. This would shift the balance of power in the region in Israel’s direction. And it would deprive Iran of the ability to challenge Israel’s designs for regional hegemony for decades ahead. The Israelis are not looking for peace. They’re not looking for peace with any of their neighbours.
