At this point, it is time to begin looking to secure GDI's gains. With the upcoming end of the plan, and a sea-change in Initiative political and military aims being formulated, the eastern front – facing towards the Bannerjees – is in something of a holding pattern. Fighting them would do little to advance Initiative aims, and potentially do serious damage. Working with them is politically expensive and opens the Initiative to criticism from Nod-hating hardliners, but with the retaliatory strikes from early in the operation still fresh in the public consciousness there is little appetite for more. The western, Iran-facing flank is by contrast a much more stable situation – and open to expanded operations as it becomes more and more obvious that Nod considers al-Isfahani irrelevant, and that the Shah himself has expended much of his arsenal. Theater Command has begun drafting plans to secure the region, put down the infrastructure to conduct a full scale offensive into the depths of the Red Zone, and begin chewing through the glaciers there for further abatement and raw materials.
