(OPINION) MS – A lot of people seem to have forgotten that we were literally on the brink of war with Iran earlier this year. Back in June, President Trump canceled a major U.S. bombing mission against Iran at the last minute, and things seemed to settle down quite a bit since that time. But now tensions are rising once again. On Sunday, U.S. airstrikes targeted Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria that U.S. officials believe have been behind recent rocket attacks against U.S. forces. Of course, those Iranian-backed forces never would have launched such attacks in the first place if they did not have permission from Tehran itself.
The Iranians love to hide behind proxies, and for now, the U.S. is only conducting airstrikes against those proxies. But at some point, President Trump’s patience is likely to run out, and at that point, we could start hitting Iran itself. Over the past six months, the U.S. has sent 14,000 more troops to the Middle East, and it is being reported that “the Pentagon is considering deploying additional forces to the region”. The drumbeats of war are starting to get louder again, and many believe that eventually, one side is likely to push the other side a bit too far.
The attacks that we just witnessed were supposed to send a very strong message to Tehran. According to the Daily Mail, five separate targets were hit, and at least 19 people were killed… US airstrikes left 19 people dead in Iraq and Syria on Sunday in retaliation against an Iranian-backed militia group blamed for a rocket attack two days earlier that killed an American contractor. F-15 Strike Eagles hit five targets associated with Kataib Hezbollah, the Iranian-sponsored Shiite militia group, said Defense Secretary Mark Esper. READ MORE
