Iran saw MoU as attempt by Israel, US to buy time for larger attack, so it did the same - report

According to the WSJ, Arab intelligence officials picked up evidence of Iranian leaders planning potential attacks on enemy territory, broadening the scope of the war and raising the cost for the US.

Iran viewed the development of a memorandum of understanding with the United States as an attempt by Israel and the US to buy time for a larger attack, and used the opportunity to prepare for a larger fight themselves, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing Iranian and Arab officials.

According to the WSJ, Arab intelligence officials picked up evidence of Iranian leaders planning potential attacks on enemy territory, broadening the scope of the war and raising the cost for the US.

“There is also a widespread view in Iran that the main war has not yet begun,” Mohammad Hassan Sangtarash, a Tehran-based defense analyst close to the Iranian government, told the WSJ. “What we have seen so far is increasingly interpreted through the lens of ‘salami-slicing’ tactics - limited, incremental escalation designed to weaken capabilities before a larger confrontation.”

Part of the preparations Iran made included sending advisors to Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon to discuss plans for Iran's proxy militias.

Officials familiar with Arab intelligence findings said that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sent commanders to assist Yemen's Houthi terrorist group, supervising the deployment of missiles and other weapons targeting the Red Sea, as well as giving the group lists of targets and general advice and guidance.

The IRGC also threatened Gulf states that it would target their energy facilities if the US targeted Iran's, including sending lists of specific targets.

Other options the IRGC has planned include options such as sabotaging internet cables, raising political unrest in countries with high Shia populations, and ground operations in Kuwait.

Iran's baseline is war, former US nuclear negotiator says

Alan Eyre, a former senior US diplomat and nuclear negotiator with Iran, said that Iran's baseline is war, adding that “Iran will remain on a wartime footing, preparing for a subsequent attack.”

One example the WSJ cites is the recent appointment of Ahmad Vahidi as the new Revolutionary Guard Commander in Chief.

According to Saeid Golkar, an expert on Iran’s security services at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Vahidi's appointment "is consistent with a leadership preparing the security establishment for a period of sustained confrontation rather than a return to normal peacetime politics."