Commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) — have reportedly gone into hiding in Iraq and Syria after President Joe Biden’s administration have repeatedly leaked their alleged plans to launch retaliatory strikes against those responsible for murdering three U.S. soldiers and wounding dozens more over the weekend.
CBS News reported that Biden officials confirmed to the network “that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets — including Iranian personnel and facilities — inside Iraq and Syria.”
Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin, who has a pro-Biden slant to her reporting, responded to CBS’s report by noting that “all of those IRGC commanders have already left Syria and gone into hiding leaving those bases.”
“The Pentagon usually does not telegraph so much if it wants the element of surprise,” she added.
The Biden administration further sought to diminish Iran’s role in the more than 160 Iranian-backed terrorist attacks against U.S. forces in the region over the last few months, telling Politico that they don’t believe Tehran has full control of the terrorist groups that it funds.
Politico said that the “disclosure” by the Biden administration, which was mocked online by policy experts, “could lower the chance of the U.S. getting pulled into a direct confrontation with Iran.”
“Full control is irrelevant,” said policy expert Norman Roule. “Tehran has the capacity to choke off weapons to militias and highly likely the ability to halt action by major groups that rely upon Tehran for significant financial and political support.”
Politico also reported that the Biden administration blames Israel for Iranian-backed terrorist groups attacking U.S. forces, saying that if Israel stopped trying to kill Hamas terrorists inside Gaza who carried out the October 7 terrorist attack, “there would at least be a tactical pause in the region by all Iran-backed groups.”
Secretary of State Lloyd Austin was asked on Thursday about IRGC commanders fleeing back to Iran to avoid being killed by U.S. forces.
“Has there been too much telegraphing, or is the point not to kill any Iranian commanders?” a reporter asked.
“In terms of telegraphing about strikes and whether or not people leave or would have left, you know, I won’t speculate on any of that,” Austin said. “I will just tell you that, you know, we will have a multi-tiered response, and again, we have the ability to respond in a number of times depending on what the situation is.”
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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) slammed the Biden administration on Thursday for tipping off Iran and its terrorist groups on the U.S. Military’s planned response, saying that it was a reflection of “Biden’s policy of fear and appeasement and conciliation.”
“Just like with Ukraine and before that with Afghanistan, he’s scared of his own shadow,” Cotton said. “He keeps worrying about escalation. What we saw over the weekend was a massive escalation by Iran. The only way to solve that threat is to directly target Iran’s terrorist forces throughout the region and in Iran itself, to make it clear that we will never tolerate the deaths of our fellow Americans.”