Report: US Plans Weeks-Long Bombing Campaign Against Iranian Targets

US officials told NBC News that the US is planning to launch a weeks-long bombing campaign in the Middle East in retaliation for the drone attack in northeast Jordan that killed three American soldiers.

The officials said that the targets are expected to include Iranian targets outside of Iran, and the campaign will involve strikes and cyber operations. Other reports have said the US is considering targeting Iranians in Iraq and Syria or the Iranian navy.

While the potential targets are not inside Iran, direct attacks on the Iranian military could provoke a full-blown war between the US and Iran. The US is considering taking this course of action even though the Pentagon admitted it has no evidence Iran was directly involved in the drone attack in Jordan.

The Pentagon has said the Jordan attack had the “footprints” of Kataib Hezbollah, one of the main Shia militias in Iraq. The US says that Iran is responsible only because it arms Kataib Hezbollah and other Shia militias. US officials told The New York Times that while Iran arms and funds the Shia militias, there’s no evidence Tehran is “calling the shots.”