Friday last week, Iran destroyed several American aircraft at a base in Saudi Arabia, including an AWACS radar plane.
- A serious setback for the White House, as Tehran appears to be putting up fierce resistance.
- Meanwhile, opposition to the Trump administration is growing in the United States.
It’s a symbol of American military power torn apart on the tarmac. An AWACS surveillance plane was destroyed in an attack by Iranian drones and missiles on Friday, March 27, at the American Prince Sultan base in Saudi Arabia. The attack resulted in 12 injuries and damage to several refueling aircraft.
In recent days, Tehran has been ramping up its responses and threats. On state television, a regime official warned on Sunday that American universities in the Gulf could be targeted, as well as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
Millions of Americans in the streets this weekend
After a month of war, the conflict is deadlocked, and Donald Trump seems stuck. “He thought he could make them surrender more quickly, spurred on by the victory in Venezuela. Now we’re dealing with a different kind of country, more significant, especially in terms of ballistic missiles, something much stronger, with drones as well
,” analyzed Elizabeth Sheppard-Sellam, a lecturer in political science at the University of Tours, an expert in security and defense.
Thousands of kilometers away, anger is mounting among some Americans, gathered on Saturday across the country. In New York or Washington, as shown in images aired by TF1’s 8pm news report featured at the top of this article. Nearly 8 million people took to the streets, according to organizers, particularly mobilized against the war in Iran. “We are engaged in an illegal war, the cost of life spirals out of control… It’s like a slap in the face for the American people
,” said a critic of Donald Trump’s policies.
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How can the Republican president overcome the obstacle? Is a ground operation in Iran inevitable? Perhaps, but it is not necessarily imminent. “It’s not with 5,000 or 10,000 Marines and paratroopers that he is sending to the region that a war can really be won. So I think it’s more of a facade he’s trying to put on
,” said Aysegül Sert, a journalist specializing in the United States.
In other words, the deployment of additional American troops in the region might be nothing more than a bluff. Because a ground intervention, even targeted, would inevitably result in American casualties and would further alienate public opinion, just nine months away from the midterm elections.
