Pollack offered as his “last option,” should earlier “grand bargain” and “carrot and stick” approaches fail, a direct airstrike. In his words: “Finally, and only as part of a new containment of Iran, the United States should look hard at the possibility of waging a targeted air campaign intended to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities and intended to set back the entire program.” That should come, he says, only after US policy-makers determine Iran is “truly nefarious.” Pollack wants the President to have that “arrow in his quiver,” but he believes diplomacy and sanctions will suffice.
Pentagon leaders insist they have a sufficient stockpile of munitions to continue strikes on Iran amid reports that the U.S. military’s supply of key weapons and interceptors has been diminished in the first four days of conflict.