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With each passing week, the tally of Iranian provocations that feed fears that the Middle East is on the brink of war continues to grow. Iran’s firing of a middle-range missile in violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution and its seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker came after a series of other incidents, including the shooting down of an American drone and sabotage of other shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump’s critics have depicted these actions as the inevitable result of his policies. Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and the imposition of crippling sanctions on the Islamist regime has, according to his critics in the foreign policy establishment and the media, left Tehran no choice but to strike back in the hope that Western European nations and some of Trump’s more isolationist-minded supporters will persuade him to step back from the brink.
These incidents have made headlines and increased worries that the United States and its allies may be forced at some point to respond with force that could escalate the conflict in a way that neither side anticipates. But the more important storyline involving Iran may be happening in plain sight without getting the same attention. Iran’s hostile actions in the Persian Gulf are hardly surprising for the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. But while Tehran flexes its muscles, it has also been sending strong signals of a very different character to the West.
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See Also:
(1) Iran — Will Pompeo and Tehran talk soon? Here’s why it just might happen
