in isfahan, complete with soothing music. at a rally of supporters of the regime, the president, ebrahim raisi, significantly, made no mention of last night s events, focusing instead on the barrage of missiles and drones iran fired at israel last weekend. translation: this move was necessary, obligatory, unifying and a source of pride and power for our great country. almost all of iran s missiles and drones were shot down by israel, with the help of the us, the uk and other allies. but this was a huge escalation, the first time iran had ever attacked israel directly, after decades of covert war. and it prompted international alarm. it was iran s response to the strike by israel on an iranian diplomatic
and drones were shot down by israel with the help of the us, the uk and other allies. but this was a huge escalation. air raid sirens. the first time iran had ever attacked israel directly after decades of a covert war. and it prompted international alarm. it was iran s response to this strike by israel on an iranian diplomatic compound in damascus at the start of the month, targeting a senior military commander, an attack iran said on its sovereign territory to which it was bound to respond. it s been a very dangerous tit for tat, with each side wanting to project power and land the last punch. now, iran had said it would respond even more harshly to any israeli counterstrike, but the fact that the presumed israeli strike has so far been limited and that the iranians are playing it down gives, i think, some hope that the two sides can now step back from the brink. but it is still a moment of huge risk and anxiety in the middle east and beyond.
translation: this move | was necessary, obligatory, unifying and a source of pride and powerfor our great country. almost all of iran s missiles and drones were shot down by israel, with the help of the us, the uk and other allies. but this was a huge escalation, the first time iran had ever attacked israel directly, after decades of covert war. and it prompted international alarm. it was iran s response to this strike by israel on an iranian diplomatic compound in damascus at the start of the month, targeting a senior military commander an attack, iran said, on its sovereign territory, to which it was bound to respond. i spoke earlier to behnam ben taleblu, a senior fellow at the foundation for defence of democracies.
Todd Bensman is a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow, a Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and author of Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History, the 2023 follow-up to his