The US military has requested additional intelligence personnel from the Pentagon to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days, signaling expectations that the conflict could last far longer than initially projected.
The request came from United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which asked the US Department of Defense to send more military intelligence staff to its headquarters in Florida to help sustain operations against Iran through the coming months, internal documents cited by Politico show.
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The staffing request suggests planning is already underway for a prolonged campaign that could stretch into September.
The development contrasts with earlier remarks by President Donald Trump, who said shortly after the start of hostilities that the operation could take around four weeks “or even less.”
US defense officials are also working to deploy additional air defense systems to the region, particularly smaller and less expensive counter-drone technologies that the Pentagon has developed in recent years, a US official told Politico.
The war effort – launched jointly by the United States and Israel – began on Feb. 28 under the name Operation Epic Fury. On the first day of the campaign, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in a strike on his residence in Tehran.
Politico reported that Trump’s team “had not fully anticipated the wide fallout” of the war. As one sign of this, the US Department of State has begun allocating additional resources to evacuate American diplomatic staff from across the Middle East.
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