CUFI Briefing- Iran’s Attack on US Base

What Happened?
What Happened?
Late on Tuesday night, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting at least two military bases in Iraq that housed US military personnel.  The strikes began at approximately 5:30pm with missiles being fired from Iranian territory targeting the Ain al-Assad air base in Anbar province and in Irbil at the center of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.  No casualties have been reported.  Iranian leaders lauded and claimed full responsibility for the attack, with Iran’s supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying on Wednesday morning the attacks were “a slap in the face” to the United States.

Why now?
The IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s hegemonic policy in the region and oversaw their support of international terrorism. He was personally responsible for the deaths of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last week the US took decisive action, killing Soleimani in an air strike in Baghdad. Iranian leaders have been vowing revenge against the United States since.  Just days ago, Soleimani’s daughter declared to masses gathered at his funeral, “the families of U.S. soldiers in the Middle East will spend their days waiting for death of their children.”

What does this mean?
While some have presented the events of the last week in isolation, tensions with Iran did not begin with Soleimani’s assassination. The regime in Tehran has, since seizing power in the Islamic revolution of 1979, chanted “Death to America, Death to Israel,” making it a goal and policy.  Iranian aggression against American targets dates back over 30 years with the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran and the 444 days that American staff were held hostage in contravention of all international rules that govern diplomacy.  Iranian proxies murdered over 240 US military personal in Beirut in 1983, which included 220 US Marines – the largest number of Marines killed in a single incident since the Second World War.  This pattern of aggression has not subsided in recent years. In 2016 Iran seized two US Navy boats, parading US naval personnel on state television before releasing them. US ships have been harassed by Iranian naval vessels in the Straits of Hormuz and just last year, a US Navy drone was shot down while in international airspace.

What Next?
This morning, President Trump made clear to the Iranians that the US is neither seeking nor afraid of conflict with Iran.  For over 30 years Iran’s policy and patronage of terror has blazed a blood-soaked trail from Buenos Aires, to Burgas, to Beirut and beyond.  A regime that weekly champions the chants “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” has spared little effort to make this chant a reality. But for the first time in years, Iran faces an American leader who is ready, willing, and able to stand up to Iran or make peace with the Islamic Republic. The choice is up to Tehran.

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