Adam Grant

It would be one of the most complicated operations that it's carried out in many years.

And the reason for that is just because it's so close to Iran.

It's just miles off of Iran's mainland.

And it's within rocket range and within range of drones and all kinds of other projectiles that could be fired, that would be fired, at U.S.

forces seeking to occupy it.

they would absolutely fight back.

And not only would they fight back, but the war that's already become a regional war would almost certainly intensify because the Iranians haven't really retaliated against energy infrastructure in the way that they could if Karg Island were taken off the board for them.

They would really see it as like, this is an existential threat and it is time to pull out all the stops.

They have said they would attack energy infrastructure elsewhere in the Gulf.

allies would see their energy infrastructure attacked.

They've threatened desalinization plants that Arab allies of the United States rely on in order to have water for their people.

Kuwait says one Indian national has been killed in an attack on a power and water desalination plant.

All of this infrastructure is just sitting out in the open and it requires an intense amount of air defense to protect.

And that's what we've seen is just the U.S.

and its Gulf allies going through enormous amounts of air defense to try and protect these cities and structures and bases.

And if the Iranians were really to go after energy infrastructure in a serious way,

it could have global repercussions very, very quickly.

The president has really vacillated between these two extremes.

One is escalation, like he's talking about in that tweet, you know, full, you know, maximalist escalation where the U.S.

will go after the most important energy infrastructure that Iran has.