Iran may attempt ‘face-saving’ retaliation against US for strikes, expert says

Iran whitethorn effort to retaliate against the U.S. aft a stealth onslaught deed 3 cardinal Iranian atomic facilities, though the authorities lacks the capabilities to marque a "significant escalation," an adept connected the Middle East and U.S. nationalist information told Fox News Digital connected Sunday.

Jacob Olidort, the manager of the Center for American Security astatine the America First Policy Institute, said Iran is "a batch of bark close now," and anticipated that determination "might beryllium a tiny bite" from the authorities directed astatine the U.S.

"I bash foresee immoderate benignant of face-saving efforts," Olidort said, noting that Iran could perchance motorboat cyber-attacks oregon attacks connected infrastructure successful the region.

Iran has already launched much missiles astatine Israel successful the aftermath of the U.S. military’s Operation Midnight Hammer, striking astatine slightest 10 interaction sites and injuring astatine slightest 20 radical successful Israel.

RUBIO DECLARES IRAN'S DAYS OF ‘PLAYING THE WORLD’ OVER AFTER TRUMP'S DECISIVE STRIKE

A close-up of a crater implicit the underground Natanz installation connected June 22, 2025, aft U.S. strikes targeted the enrichment site. (Satellite representation ©2025 Maxar Technologies)

But Olidort said helium didn’t expect "any important escalation" from Iran, not due to the fact that of the regime’s deficiency of volition to bash so, but due to the fact that it present simply lacks the capabilities for a stronger effect aft Israel launched waves of its ain strikes against the authorities earlier this month.

Israel has said its strikes targeted Iran’s atomic facilities and ballistic rocket sites, and killed aggregate Iranian subject leaders.

This outer representation by Planet Labs PBC shows Iran's underground atomic enrichment tract astatine Fordo aft a U.S. airstrike targeted the installation connected Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

In the hours aft the strikes, Tehran said that the clip for diplomacy had passed and that it had the close to support itself. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has declared that "now is the clip for peace."

As for the interaction connected the powerfulness Iran wields done its unit of proxies successful the region, Olidort said it’s notable that nary of them person instantly jumped to Iran’s assistance pursuing the U.S. strikes, which perchance points to Iran’s weakness.

Olidort said the U.S. operation’s interaction connected Iran’s atomic programme could acceptable the regime’s extremity of achieving a atomic limb backmost "a sizeable amount."

"Before these strikes, Israel had taken retired galore of Iran’s capabilities and galore of its atomic scientists," helium said, adding that helium estimated Israel had already acceptable backmost Iran’s atomic programme by 2 to 3 years.

EXPERT CONFIDENT IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM IS ‘NO LONGER’ AFTER MASSIVE US STRIKE

The U.S. strikes whitethorn present person hindered Iran’s atomic programme by upwards of a decade, according to Olidort, though helium said that the timeframe mostly depends connected what actions oregon agreements the U.S. and Iran marque successful the days to come.

The U.S. launched a astonishment onslaught utilizing B-2 stealth bombers connected Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan atomic facilities connected Saturday. 

Gen. Dan Caine, president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing astatine the Pentagon connected Sunday greeting that the afloat grade of the conflict harm to the facilities would instrumentality clip to assess.

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It remained unclear arsenic of Sunday whether immoderate enriched atomic worldly was destroyed successful the U.S. strikes oregon if Iran had moved the worldly beforehand.