Iran has just escalated its conflict with the United States by directly attacking American troops. At this early stage, without the benefit of key details, such as damages and American casualties, it’s very difficult to predict how this will affect rising tensions with the leading state sponsor of terrorism.
But the statement put out from the Pentagon includes several important details.
One, the attack involved Iran directly launching weapons from inside Iran, explicitly targeting U.S. troops. Though Iran has been no stranger to attacking U.S. targets, typically it has done so through proxy groups, such as Kataib Hezbollah. This has allowed Iran to claim a layer of distance from the actual attacks.
Two, Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles. These conventional weapons are much more sophisticated than the cruder weapons (such as rockets, roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices) that Iranian proxies have used to harass and kill hundreds of U.S. troops inside Iraq over the years.
Until we get a damage assessment, it will be difficult to say how this rates on the escalation scale. But it is significant that this did not involve proxies or asymmetrical warfare. It was a conventional attack on U.S. troops by Iran.
