The orientalist stated Trump's unwillingness to delay the operation against Iran

The US military operation against Iran will be short-lived, as US President Donald Trump needs a quick "Hollywood victory" rather than a protracted conflict. Sergey Balmasov, an expert at the Institute of the Middle East, told Izvestia on February 28.

"[The operation] will take a maximum of a week. <...> [Trump] does not need a Vietnam—type pull-off," Balmasov said.

At the same time, the expert notes that Israel will seek to involve the United States in more decisive actions. The Israeli side is no longer satisfied only with the elimination of Iran's nuclear program, they need a full-fledged change of the Iranian regime. However, it is problematic to achieve this by bombing alone.

Balmasov called the establishment of a pro-American regime allied with Washington a key task of the United States, which would mean a "rollback to 1979." Behind this is the desire to gain control over the colossal reserves of oil and especially gas.

"It will be a controlling gas package, taking into account the Iranian gas reserves. In general, they will actually manage a significant part, actually manage a significant part of the energy sector," he said.

The expert believes that in such a scenario, the United States is likely to be able to block the traffic of energy resources from Iran to China. At the same time, even in the worst case scenario, this will increase the importance of Russia as a serious and reliable supplier of resources for China, which cannot be lost.

The Middle East beyond the border: Israel strikes Iran

Israel launches a series of attacks on military and nuclear facilities, Tehran is preparing a response

Israel launched a preemptive strike on Iran on the morning of February 28. Also, the American leader Donald Trump announced the beginning of a US military operation against Iran.

Later, Iran fired rockets towards Israel. The US Fifth Fleet maintenance center was shelled in Bahrain. In addition, Iran attacked four US military bases in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Against this background, the United States began evacuating some personnel from the Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar.

At the same time, the IDF launched a massive airstrike on military installations in western Iran. The city of Shiraz was attacked. In addition, 70,000 Israeli reservists were called up for military service.

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