The Trump administration just put Iran 'on notice' — but the Pentagon has no idea what that means
(Defense Intelligence Agency Director and US Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on "Worldwide Threats" in Washington, February 4, 2014.REUTERS/Gary Cameron)
On Wednesday at a White House press briefing, retired Gen. Michael Flynn told reporters in no uncertain terms: "As of today, we're officially putting Iran on notice."
Flynn's statement was in response to Iran's recent test of a ballistic missile, as well as to an attack by Iranian-backed Houthi militants that killed two on a Saudi navy ship off the coast of Yemen.
Flynn seemed to confirm that the White House saw Iran as behind the attack on the Saudis and to signal some US response, but it seems the Pentagon has no idea what putting Iran "on notice" actually entails.
"We saw the statement as well," a spokesman for US Central Command, the command responsible for the Middle East, told The Guardian. "This is still at the policy level, and we are waiting for something to come down the line. We have not been asked to change anything operationally in the region."
A White House official told The Guardian that the US was "going to take appropriate action" and "considering a whole range of options," including military strikes.
The US has repeatedly clashed with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps off the coast of Yemen, with encounters stopping just short of bloodshed.
(The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald fires a Harpoon missile during a live-fire drill.US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Patrick Dionne)
Lawrence Brennan, a professor of maritime law and former US Navy commander, told Business Insider on Wednesday that the US Navy may reconsider their rules of engagement with the Iranians at sea and that as the risk of conflict increases, the US Navy may look to fire on harassing Iranian ships sooner rather than later.
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