Iran's defiant volley of ballistic missile attacks on Iraqi bases hosting American forces significantly quickened a cycle of escalation that threatens to erupt into a full blown war with the United States.
In effect, Iran called Donald Trump's bluff, dismissing his warnings that it should not respond to his own massively provocative move of killing the Islamic Republic's top general.
Iran's attack appeared to shatter the talking points of Trump's political allies that his targeted strike against Qasem Soleimani had reestablished deterrence. Far from stopping a war as Trump promised, last week's attack may have started one.
While the missile strikes represented rare direct fire between Iran and the US, they were not as potent as they might have been given Soleimani's talismanic importance to the Iranian regime. If Trump interprets them that way, it could open an avenue to limit the escalation of the current crisis.
Posted by thenewseum
at 6:58 AM EST
