Iran - Now What?

To the Mullahs' astonishment, Trump is not Obama.


Michael Ledeen Tue Jan 7, 2020 18


What will the Iranians do now? There are cries for revenge following the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, accompanied by red lights around the holy city of Qom. We are taking the threats seriously, as is proper, and we are pressing ahead with arrests of Iranian agents in Iraq, and air strikes against still other agents on the ground in Iraq.............


At the beginning of the Trump Administration, the Iranians feared the American president would challenge the regime. The Iranians have always been afraid of a direct conflict with the United States, and they were careful to farm out their strikes against Washington, D.C. and its allies to their proxies, from Hezbollah to Islamic Jihad. Trump wanted a deal, and for a while he was swayed by the likes of Rand Paul, who advised the president to pursue an agreement with the mullahs.............


Trump had changed his mind; he saw the Iranian position accurately, and unleashed the American military against Iranians in Iraq. To the astonishment of the Iranian regime, it was not a case of tit-for-tat. Trump approved a full response, from drone attacks to air assaults, to the use of special forces and a rapid reinforcement of American strength on the ground. Soleimani and his buddies were killed. The Iraqi Parliament declined to throw out American forces, and, in polling results, 67% of Iraqis said they were in favor of maintaining security agreements with the U.S.............To Read More....