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Emboldened Iran Is Making a Dangerous Gamble on Open Confrontation
(Wall Street Journal) Jared Malsin - For two decades, Iran stayed in the shadows and relied on militias that it funded in its deadly fight with Israel. Its direct attack on Israel last weekend marked a strategic shift, and a major gamble. Iran's massive drone and missile strike on Israel marked a dramatic illustration of Tehran's shift away from accommodation with the West and toward open confrontation with the U.S. and its allies. Iranian hard-liners has been calling for tougher action against Israel, as it inflicted heavy damage on Tehran's network of militias. "We have decided to create a new equation," said Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "From now on if the Zionist regime attacks our interests, assets, figures and citizens anywhere, we will reciprocally attack it from the origin of Iran," he told state television Sunday. The shift bears enormous risks for Tehran, handing Israel an opportunity to change the conversation away from the war in Gaza and presenting a test for Iran's military capabilities that it may not be up for.