It is in the U.S. interest to bring the conflict with Iran to a closure as quickly as possible: Alexei Khlebnikov

Alexei Khlebnikov, expert on Middle East and North Africa at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), commented to Alpha News on the situation in the Middle East within the framework of the RIAC conference “Conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa: Escalation Factors and Trajectories of Transformation.”
“Given that active hostilities, namely, U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran, have been underway for two weeks now, this will continue for some time yet. There are several important points to consider here. First, it is in the interest of the U.S. to wrap up the conflict sooner rather than later, because Trump needs to be able to declare victory. On top of that, preparations for the midterm elections (scheduled for November of this year) are already underway. Letting the conflict drag on without tangible results is simply not a good look for the Americans,” the expert noted.
According to Khlebnikov, Tehran is more inclined to play for time in order to ramp up pressure on the U.S. through its regional allies.
“In that sense, Iran is probably more interested in prolonging the conflict, in increasing, so to speak, the strain and leverage on America’s allies, to intensify a certain degree of pressure on the U.S. from within its own regional partnership network. This may partly explain Iran’s strikes against American allies in the Gulf states as well,” Khlebnikov said.