US rescue inside Iran opens debate over war's next phase

The mission to rescue an American pilot downed in Iran showed how a tactical success can open wider strategic possibilities, sharpening debate over how far the United States may expand its footprint inside Iran.

The operation may have cost the United States several military assets, but it also forced Iran to reveal what it considers key terrain, according to former intelligence officer Michael Pregent.

“You can see movement of assets to protect key terrain that we may not have thought was key terrain but the regime does, and that gives an opportunity to exploit the situation," Pregent told Iran International.

That reading is echoed, though more cautiously, by Farzin Nadimi, a defense and military expert on Iran at the Washington Institute.

“It was a very successful operation… It showed real reach, real flexibility, and real results. But at the same time, it also showed… that the mission could very well have failed. And that would leave almost 100 troops in the middle of Iran," he told Iran International.

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