Biden’s Iran Deal Strikes Death Blow to U.S. Deterrence

Early Sunday, twelve ballistic missiles fired from Iran struck Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The missiles struck near a U.S. Consulate base that is currently in construction. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in Syria that killed at least two IRGC guards. While Kurdish officials say the U.S. Consulate was the target, Iranian state media claimed that the strikes were aimed at secret Israeli intelligence bases.

On Fox News Sunday, Wendy Sherman, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, said she does not “believe that the consulate was actually the target of this missile attack” The IRGC stated that it was aiming at “the strategic center of the Zionist conspiracies in Erbil,” but it also connected the Israeli and U.S. presence in Iraq, according to the New York Times. Nick Carl, a senior analyst and Iran team leader at AEI Critical Threats Project, told National Review that Iranian leaders “have explicitly stated that they are going to hold accountable third parties that facilitate and support Israeli operations.”

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Carine Hajjar

Carine Hajjar, a former National Review intern, is a Joseph Rago Fellow at the Wall Street Journal.

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Early Sunday, twelve ballistic missiles fired from Iran struck Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The missiles struck near a U.S. Consulate base that is currently in construction. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in Syria that killed at least two IRGC guards. While Kurdish officials say the U.S. Consulate was the target, Iranian state media claimed that the strikes were aimed at secret Israeli intelligence bases.

On Fox News Sunday, Wendy Sherman, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, said she does not “believe that the consulate was actually the target of this missile attack” The IRGC stated that it was aiming at “the strategic center of the Zionist conspiracies in Erbil,” but it also connected the Israeli and U.S. presence in Iraq, according to the New York Times. Nick Carl, a senior analyst and Iran team leader at AEI Critical Threats Project, told National Review that Iranian leaders “have explicitly stated that they are going to hold accountable third parties that facilitate and support Israeli operations.”