Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax that with the Iron Dome apparently "depleted," the Biden administration reached a deal with Israel to send American troops to operate the United States' Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in exchange for Israel not striking Iranian civilians or critical infrastructure.
The United States will send a THAAD battery to Israel, along with the troops needed to operate it, the Pentagon said Sunday, even as Iran warned Washington to keep American military forces out of Israel.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorized the deployment of the THAAD battery at the direction of President Joe Biden. He said the system will help bolster Israel's air defenses following Iran's ballistic missile attacks on Israel in April and October.
"I think the fact is, at this point, the missiles are depleted," Shaffer said Tuesday on "American Agenda."
Israel has "sustained two attacks" by Iran, he said, "the one in April and the one just recently."
"And the primary missiles they used as part of ... their system, which is the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3, they're expensive, and they're hard to produce. So I think ... a deal was cut. The horse trading was, was done," he said.
"I think what happened was the Biden administration was able to get an agreement by the Israelis to not hit nuclear sites or civilian sites or energy production sites in exchange for ... the high-altitude, nuclear, anti-missile system we deployed with 100 Army soldiers to actually help take care of that shortfall of Iron Dome missiles."
Shaffer added that there's a "glut" in global oil.
"So the last thing the Biden administration wants," he added, is to see "the Israelis hitting Iranian production or oil facilities, which then jacks up the price. This is a political issue."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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