Why on Earth Did Iran Bait Trump Now?
A rocket attack killing two Americans could hardly have come at a worse time for a regime struggling with multiple crises.
No protection against recklessness.
Photographer: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Even for a regime that rejoices in reckless endangerment — of its own people, of regional stability, and of the world order — Iran’s proxy strike on a military base near Baghdad last night was exceptionally rash. Two Americans and a Briton have reportedly been killed by the rockets that struck Camp Taji; the number of Iraqi casualties is not yet known.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has defined the taking of American lives as a red line, is now obliged to strike back. After the last major Iranian attack, he repeatedly downplayed the head trauma inflicted on U.S. soldiers as mere headaches, saying that he had “stopped something that would have been very devastating for them” because none of the soldiers had been killed.