In the days leading up to last night’s launch of dozens of missiles aimed at Iraqi bases used by U.S. forces, Iran had threatened that the price America would pay for killing Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani would be steep. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told CBS News that his country would retaliate for the U.S. strike that killed the top Iranian general “in a proportionate manner … against legitimate targets.”
The threat already seemed toned down from the Islamic Republic’s original reaction to the death of Soleimani on Sunday when it flew the “red flag of doom” over the highest mosque in the country, warning that Donald Trump had “taken the U.S. ‘to the precipice of war’ with Iran” and that the punishment would be “extreme.”
If you’re still holding your breath in anticipation of the coming shock and awe, you can exhale. Yesterday, NBC News Tehran Bureau Chief Ali Arouzi tweeted that “Iran is saying that if there is no retaliation from America for these latest attacks then they will stop attacking. But if America attacks then their response will be crushing and wide spread.”
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Iran is saying that if there is no retaliation from America for these latest attacks then they will stop attacking. But if America attacks then their response will be crushing and wide spread. #iran #soleimani #war
— Ali Arouzi (@aliarouzi) January 8, 2020
Two hours ago, he followed up with another tweet, this one reading “For now #Iran is feeling victorious. They may still be calling for and threading [sic] the US to leave the region but they seem happy with their strike last night and don’t want to incite some kind of massive retribution. What happens next depends on @realDonaldTrump for now.”
For now #Iran is feeling victorious. They may still be calling for and threading the US to leave the region but they seem happy with their strike last night and don’t want to incite some kind of massive retribution. What happens next depends on @realDonaldTrump for now.#IranvsUSA
— Ali Arouzi (@aliarouzi) January 8, 2020
I don’t mean to minimize last night’s attack, which reportedly killed at least 56 Iraqis, but if Arouzi’s reporting is accurate, the U.S. is hardly facing the dire consequences that virtually every Democrat in Congress has been predicting since the drone strike that took out Soleimani.
I suppose it’s also safe for now for parents to postpone the heart-wrenching talks they were going to have with their young children frightened by news of the general’s death.
