Vahid Beheshti
Washington Times, Feb. 1, 2024
“Although Iran may not openly declare a hybrid war, it is actively engaged in a campaign to systematically dismantle the infrastructure of democratic societies by exploiting the vulnerabilities inherent therein.”
The news of three U.S. soldiers killed and 25 injured at a military base in Jordan by Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Syria needs to be a pivotal moment in the Middle East.
This attack on Americans is a trial by Iran to test whether the West in general and the U.S. in particular has the stomach to mount a response.
For too many years, Iran has engaged in a proxy war against the U.S., the West and moderate nations in the region with few to no repercussions.
This must stop.
There can be no more deniability or arms-distancing. This is a direct Iranian attack on the U.S. and needs to be treated as such, or the attacks will be more frequent and bolder, resulting in greater bloodshed.
This attack against the soldiers in Jordan, of all places, is not a testament to Iran’s strength. It is the direct result of the U.S. and the U.K.’s weakness against Iranian-sponsored terrorism.
In the last few months, the Iranian-backed Houthis have been responsible for launching drone and missile attacks on ships in the strategically important shipping lanes of the Red Sea. Their stated targets are ships associated with or bound for Israel, and they claim that these actions are in retaliation to Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.
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