CIA chief: US assesses Israel, Iran don’t want full-blown war, but there could be ‘misjudgments’

CIA chief William Burns says that while the US intelligence community believes neither Israel nor Iran want “all-out conflict,” there is a large risk of miscalculation.

“[W]e face the very real danger of a further regional escalation of conflict,” Burns says during a conference in the US, according to CBS News.

He says that Israel is “weighing very carefully” how it will respond to Iran’s attack last week in which Tehran fired some 200 ballistic missiles, but warns there is potential for “misjudgments.”

“The Middle East is a place where complicated stuff happens all the time,” he says.

Burns says that while the Iranian attack exposed some limitations in Iran’s military capabilities, “that’s not to suggest that those capabilities are still not quite potent and something that not only Israel, but the United States, needs to take very seriously, too.”

With regards to Tehran’s nuclear program, Burns says it appeared it has been accelerated but that it did not seem that Iran had reversed the decision to suspend the weaponization aspect of it.

Turning to Gaza, Burns says that efforts to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal are “elusive,” although they have come close at times.

“[W]hat’s at stake in Gaza is shaped by political will,” Burns says. “In the end, it’s not just about brackets in texts or creative formulas when you’re trying to negotiate a hostage and ceasefire deal. It’s about leaders who ultimately have to recognize that enough is enough, that perfect is rarely on the menu, especially in the Middle East.”

“And then you’ve got to go make hard choices and some compromises in the interest of a longer-term strategic stability as well,” he reportedly says.