An officer in US Central Command’s intelligence branch sent an email last week to a broad group of military analysts with an unusual request: new ideas for how to wind down the Iran war, per CNN’s reporting confirmed by Raw Story this morning. The US military is casting an unusually wide net for exit strategies, which is what an institution does when the strategies it has already tried are not producing an exit.
The email, per Raw Story’s description of the CNN report, was sent to analysts outside CENTCOM’s normal advisory structure, which is the procedural detail that makes it “unusual.” Standard military planning uses established channels and cleared personnel. An email to a broad group seeking new ideas is the equivalent of a distress flare sent to people who are not currently on the ship. “Trump feels stuck,” per Raw Story’s headline, which is the civilian translation of a CENTCOM intelligence officer sending an email asking for new ideas.
The conflict is now in its sixth month. The US has conducted more than 300 separate strike missions against Iranian military infrastructure. The Senate has voted 13 times on War Powers resolutions to end the conflict and failed each time. Two ceasefires have been attempted. The first ceasefire lasted 21 days. The current pause, announced Saturday when Trump called off what Hegseth confirmed would have been “the biggest attacks since World War II,” is not being called a ceasefire. Oman is carrying messages between the parties. Former Pentagon official Brent Sadler said this morning on Fox News more strikes are still “likely.”
The military spent $37.5 billion in the first few months of the conflict, per Hegseth’s Senate testimony. The Strait of Hormuz sees only a handful of commercial vessels daily. Oil prices have fallen 5% on the pause and remain above pre-war levels. The email went out last week.
When CENTCOM is emailing analysts outside its normal structure asking for new ideas on how to end a war, what exactly are the current ideas?
Sources
Raw Story: ‘Trump feels stuck’: Unusual move said to be latest sign that Iran war ‘not working well’
