President Joe Biden, the US commander in chief, is currently under increased pressure following the deaths of three US service members and numerous injuries. Since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict, this is the first time enemy fire has claimed the lives of US soldiers.
This abrupt turn of events appeared to have been almost inevitable. An increasing number of US soldiers have been injured as a result of Iran-backed militias’ frequent attacks on US military installations in Syria and Iraq since mid-October. The US has frequently struck targets in both countries in retaliation.
However, this time, the US will have to decide whether to hold Iran accountable. It is an option, and an escalation, that carries a high risk.
The US president issued a vague first warning, saying, “We will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”
The US is aware that it must now be perceived as doing more to safeguard the lives of its military personnel. Critics of the president will take advantage of this crisis to re-accuse him of being “soft on Iran.” However, his administration has focused on drawing clear red lines in far-off wars to prevent the United States from being drawn into a much more expensive conflict.
Long embroiled in hostilities, Washington and Tehran have both carefully avoided direct conflict in the current crisis.
Iran, which is also facing domestic pressure, has refrained from launching its own strikes against American or Israeli targets in retaliation for the murder of its top Revolutionary Guard commanders, which it attributes to Israel. Its first direct response came earlier this month when it struck what it described as an Israeli Mossad agency base in Iraqi Kurdistan, focusing its fire on what was considered a “soft target.”
Attacks on ships in the crucial Red Sea shipping channel have continued despite the US, supported by the UK and others, already taking the lead in the fight against Yemen’s Houthis. It must now take on other groups that receive support from Iran in a manner that protects US interests without sending this unstable region into yet another dangerous downward spiral.