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Source: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-plan-escalate-war-cc657664
Iran's Secret Plan to Escalate the War
(Wall Street Journal) Benoit Faucon - After President Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in mid-June, Iran's leaders moved to give the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps more control of the country's regular army, expanded domestic counterintelligence operations, and ramped up production of missiles and drones. Iran attacked ships to tighten its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and expanded the battlefield to the Red Sea. Arab intelligence officials intercepted communications between Iran and its militia allies in Yemen and Iraq to get their forces ready to widen the war and raise the costs for the U.S. The Revolutionary Guard used the calm created by the memorandum of understanding to lay the groundwork with allied militias to step up attacks if needed, sending advisers to Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon to discuss the plans. The Revolutionary Guard supervised deployments of missiles, naval weapons and drone launchers to positions overlooking the Red Sea. It also provided Yemeni militants with intelligence, target lists including Saudi ports and energy facilities, and advice on sheltering from Saudi retaliation. The Revolutionary Guard threatened Gulf states that it would destroy their energy facilities if the U.S. were to hit similar sites in Iran, sending detailed lists of targets to its Arab counterparts. "We took full advantage of the ceasefire period," Revolutionary Guard spokesman Brig.-Gen. Hossein Mohebbi told Tasnim news agency in July. "We enhanced our capabilities, accelerated our missile production rate and improved missile accuracy."