Iran expert at Middlebury Institute in Monterey explains U.S. Iran conflict

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION) Researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies said to understand the current conflict between the U.S. and Iran you have to rewind to 2015 and the Iran Nuclear Deal.

“Finding a solution to the current crisis is incredibly difficult even if both sides are willing to do, which I still don’t see at the moment,” researcher Fabian Hinz said.

The nuclear deal (The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) convinced Iran to reduce its nuclear facilities and in return lifting of sanctions on the country. When President Donald Tump pulled the U.S. out of deal in 2018, Hinz said Iran was put on the defensive.

“They started to get really worried about what was going to happen,
and felt the need to respond to this pressure campaign with their own
pressure campaign. Although theirs is not economical and political, but
militaristic in some degree,” Hinz said.

Iran said it launched the strikes late Tuesday in retaliation for the airstrike that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani last week.

The Middlebury Institute shared satellite pictures that show the Iranian strike on the Iraq air base likely didn’t miss their targets. Hinz says it's still unclear if Iran was trying to kill U.S. troops or just firing warning shots.

“I think they actually took the risk of causing casualties," the researcher said. "They tried to minimize it, but they still said there’s a chance American service men are going to get killed and we’re still taking that risk.”

Hinz said there will likely be more proxy attacks by Iran in the Middle
East, but he says any attack on U.S. soil is unlikely. Even following President Trump's remarks this morning, there's nothing to suggest this conflict is going away soon.

“Iran still wants sanction relief and the U.S. is still in the position
where it would have to lose its maximum pressure strategy if it wanted to do that,” Hinz said.