This weekend, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched an unprecedented attack against Israel. For the first time since 1979, Iran’s leadership launched strikes from Iranian territory at Israel proper using more than 300 drones and missiles, with the vast majority shot down.
In the handful of cases where Biden has responded militarily, it has been mostly aimed at Iran’s proxies and dispensable facilities in the region
These strikes took place ahead of Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday on April 19. His regime is deeply unpopular at home and planning for succession. Yet Khamenei has demonstrated a surprising willingness to take risks in his old age.
His strategy towards Israel has certainly come full circle. In a private meeting with Spain’s Prime Minister in 2001, Khamenei said that he wanted to ‘set Israel on fire’. Iran has done this by building up proxies in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and increasingly in Jordan to encircle Israel in a ring of fire.
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