What’s Next for Iran?

By Steven Ward

Steven R. Ward is a retired intelligence officer and former member of CIA’s senior analytic service who specializes in Iran and the surrounding region. A retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and graduate of the United State Military Academy at West Point, he currently is a contract historian for the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint History Office. Between 2010 and 2012, he was a CIA Visiting Professor to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. From 2005 to 2006 he served as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East on the National Intelligence Council, and he was a Director for Intelligence Programs on the National Security Council from 1998 to 1999.

The U.S. has decided to send additional troops to Saudi Arabia after an attack on an oil facility that seriously impacted the country’s oil production capabilities.  This comes as U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper called the recent attack evidence of a “dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression”.

President Trump announced further sanctions on Iran’s central bank and its sovereign wealth fund  as a result of the attack, but has ruled out direct military action for now.

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