The U.S. and Israel are so far going it alone in their military campaign against Iran, in a notable absence of the allies who participated in previous regional conflicts with air defenses and strikes.
Several world leaders have voiced support for punishing the brutality of Iran’s Islamist regime. But none offered military support in the Saturday attack, which hit dozens of sites across the Middle Eastern country with missile strikes launched by U.S. warships in the region and American and Israeli fighter aircraft.
U.S. officials spoke with allies about using their air bases in the assault during last-minute negotiations this week, according to one U.S and one allied official, but they did not agree to do so. Britain, France and the United Kingdom, in a joint statement, said they did not participate in the operation.
The lack of allied assistance is a telling sign of just how far President Donald Trump is willing to go it alone in exerting his foreign policy objectives. It also highlights the global reach of a uniquely American war machine, which was able to mass two carrier strike groups, more than 100 warplanes and a slew of air defenses to the region over the past several weeks.
Trump called the campaign “a massive and ongoing operation” that has no end in sight.
Another U.S. defense official said the strikes will likely last “days, not hours” as American and Israeli strikes take aim at the Iranian defense infrastructure and top civilian and military leadership. The official, like others interviewed, was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.
America’s lack of support made the strikes more logistically tricky. Without access to some allied airspace and airstrips, the U.S. instead staged F-22s and aerial refueler aircraft in Israel, a new wrinkle in regional U.S. operations, which usually aim to lessen overt Israeli participation.
Trump’s justifications for the expansive strikes drew parallels with the lead-up to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, in which American officials talked up threats based on classified intelligence. But unlike the George W. Bush administration, Trump did nothing to make a public case to allies. The White House did not send diplomats to the U.N. Security Council, ask for the Senate’s blessing or create a “coalition of the willing” to drum up support.
In Iraq, the U.S. had the help of 49 allies. In Afghanistan, where the U.S. led a NATO mission, more than 50 nations joined. And in more recent strikes in the Middle East, such as the April 2018 missile strikes against Syria, the British and the French were involved. Attacks on the Iranian nuclear program last June included British airborne tankers that refueled U.S. jets.