Understanding the Risks of U.S.-Iran Escalation amid the Gaza Conflict
Terrible as the Gaza war’s toll has already been, it would get worse if sustained fighting were to erupt between the U.S. and Iran or its Middle East allies.
Terrible as the Gaza war’s toll has already been, it would get worse if sustained fighting were to erupt between the U.S. and Iran or its Middle East allies.
So much of the commentary suggests that a forceful U.S. military operation inside Iran would scare the ayatollahs straight. Yet the evidence in support of that conclusion is weak to nonexistent. Iran has retaliated to previous U.S. and Israeli attacks repeatedly.
What’s the most reliable pathway to curbing the Iran-fomented violence that followed the Gaza war? It’s to bring that conflict to a quick end.
The Biden Administration and Congress must double-down on diplomacy and pursue carefully calculated deterrence efforts to avoid further escalation and bring a negotiated end to the war in Gaza.