Israel’s strikes on Iran oil depots test Pentagon’s war aims
The Israeli strikes highlighted gaps between US and Israeli planning, and the attacks on oil infrastructure potentially threaten to limit Washington’s ability to influence a future Iranian government.
WASHINGTON — The US military's plans for the opening phase of the war campaign against Iran deliberately avoided targeting oil infrastructure, in large part to preserve economic resources that could support future governance, according to three sources familiar with the plans. But Israeli strikes on major Iranian oil facilities over the weekend risk undermining what Washington officials had seen as a key source of leverage over future Iranian leaders, the sources said.
Israeli strikes hit the Aghdasieh and Shahran oil storage facilities in Tehran as well as the main crude oil refinery in the capital along with another depot in Karaj on Saturday. The strikes killed at least four people and sent plumes of black smoke and toxic, oil-laced rain over the capital. The Israeli government described the strikes as targeting Iran’s ability to support military operations.
The scope and nature of Israel's airstrikes caught administration officials off guard, Axios first reported. Israeli officials did not explicitly forewarn their American counterparts that they were targeting major Iranian oil infrastructure, Al-Monitor’s sources said. “That is outside of what we had intended to hit,” one person familiar with the conversations said.
Why it matters: The Israeli strikes revealed new daylight between Israeli and US strategic planning on the war — the largest military operation ever undertaken by the two countries together.
