US President Donald Trump suggested, while speaking in Florida, that the US and Israel had, for the moment, left some potentially major targets in Iran untouched, including electricity stations.
But Harrison, the senior fellow at the Middle East Institute who has been speaking with Al Jazeera, said that the comments underscored confusion over the “political objectives” of the war.
He referred to Trump claiming that the US wanted to create conditions for the Iranian people to take over their government. But if the US attacked facilities like electricity stations, Harrison said, it could not reasonably expect support from everyday Iranians.
“The Trump administration has clear military objectives, but unclear political objectives,” he said.
Iran condemns US’s ‘energy dominance’ strategy
Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, issued a sharp rebuke of US policy, saying that a White House-endorsed report has unmasked the true economic motives behind the recent military escalation.
Responding to a social media post by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt – which featured a Fox News article titled “Operation Epic Fury proves it is both America First and proudly MAGA” – Baghaei said the primary objective of “US and Israeli aggression” is the seizure of Iran’s oil reserves.
He said the Trump administration has framed Iran’s energy resources as the “final piece of the puzzle” in a broader strategy to dominate global energy supplies.
Tehran’s resistance serves the broader interests of the global community and the “Global South”, he added.
“Iran has not merely defended itself against this brutal war of aggression, it has defended the very principles of sovereignty and self-determination,” Baghaei said.
“Bullying power politics” have created a global crisis that should alarm anyone concerned with independence and international norms, he said.
