I expected Cohen to finish his noting the inflection point with "Israel's direct attack on Iranian soil (its embassy)". A direct attack is an act of war. The first ever between these two belligerents. Iran's attack was a response.
It was Israel's attack that was an inflection point.
I expected Cohen to finish his noting the inflection point with "Israel's direct attack on Iranian soil (its embassy)". A direct attack is an act of war. The first ever between these two belligerents. Iran's attack was a response.
It was Israel's attack that was an inflection point.
And Israel's attack was in response to Iranian-backed groups direct attacks on Israeli soil. Including attacks by Hezballah that have led to almost 100k Israelis being displaced from the north of Israel. There's always a preceding event when discussing any "new" happening in the Middle East.
But you're correct in that the attack on Israel didn't come out of nowhere. None of Iran's "malign activities" have. I'd argue none of Iran's asymmetric violence, to include its sponsorship of daily attacks on US troops in the (first) Iraq War that killed around 1,000.
But it's also true that even those actions are part of a pattern that also did not develop in a vaccum; Iran wants to exert leadership over a Shi'a coalition including Iraq, Syria & Lebanon as a counter to the US-led coalition Tehran feels is unjustly "boxing them in."
This isn't exactly new, but Iran's brazenness has grown . . . but over 20 years, not just a few months. There *is*, I will acknowledge, a misconception being fostered by some that Iran's "malign" behavior began on Oct 8--or the day that old weak wimp Biden took office. Similar to the claims we heard about a decade ago that Iran seemingly became a problem only under Obama. That old refrain doesn't help and also just doesn't stand up to reality. This isn't new and it's not the "fault" of either Biden or Israel.
Contrary to myth, a consulate--or embassy--is not a nation's "soil."
The Israeli attack was certainly a breach of protocol, but not the equivalent of bombing Tehran (which is exactly what Iran tried to do to Tel Aviv).
And before Iran struck somebody's actual soil, its proxies were lobbing missiles & rockets at Israel. And I'm not even talking about Hamas here. Hezballah, the Houthis . . . people who ordinarily shouldn't care about the squabble between Jews & Arabs in what was formerly British Palestine.
If outside entities like Hezbollah, the Houthi regime, and the Islamic Republic are so concerned about Palestinians, perhaps they shouldn't jump-start wars between them and Israel.
You are correct. I misread the newsletter I got that from. But they have sovereignty over the embassy. It's still an escalation on the part of Israel, no?
I expected Cohen to finish his noting the inflection point with "Israel's direct attack on Iranian soil (its embassy)". A direct attack is an act of war. The first ever between these two belligerents. Iran's attack was a response.
It was Israel's attack that was an inflection point.
And Israel's attack was in response to Iranian-backed groups direct attacks on Israeli soil. Including attacks by Hezballah that have led to almost 100k Israelis being displaced from the north of Israel. There's always a preceding event when discussing any "new" happening in the Middle East.
But you're correct in that the attack on Israel didn't come out of nowhere. None of Iran's "malign activities" have. I'd argue none of Iran's asymmetric violence, to include its sponsorship of daily attacks on US troops in the (first) Iraq War that killed around 1,000.
But it's also true that even those actions are part of a pattern that also did not develop in a vaccum; Iran wants to exert leadership over a Shi'a coalition including Iraq, Syria & Lebanon as a counter to the US-led coalition Tehran feels is unjustly "boxing them in."
This isn't exactly new, but Iran's brazenness has grown . . . but over 20 years, not just a few months. There *is*, I will acknowledge, a misconception being fostered by some that Iran's "malign" behavior began on Oct 8--or the day that old weak wimp Biden took office. Similar to the claims we heard about a decade ago that Iran seemingly became a problem only under Obama. That old refrain doesn't help and also just doesn't stand up to reality. This isn't new and it's not the "fault" of either Biden or Israel.
Israel's attack on Iran was the first on Iranian soil, ever. Yes or no?
Contrary to myth, a consulate--or embassy--is not a nation's "soil."
The Israeli attack was certainly a breach of protocol, but not the equivalent of bombing Tehran (which is exactly what Iran tried to do to Tel Aviv).
And before Iran struck somebody's actual soil, its proxies were lobbing missiles & rockets at Israel. And I'm not even talking about Hamas here. Hezballah, the Houthis . . . people who ordinarily shouldn't care about the squabble between Jews & Arabs in what was formerly British Palestine.
If outside entities like Hezbollah, the Houthi regime, and the Islamic Republic are so concerned about Palestinians, perhaps they shouldn't jump-start wars between them and Israel.
You are correct. I misread the newsletter I got that from. But they have sovereignty over the embassy. It's still an escalation on the part of Israel, no?