"Middle East Dynamics After Soleimani Death" Topic

The Iranian public's revulsion over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shootdown of a Ukrainian commercial aircraft could be critical reason tension between Tehran and Washington did not escalate after an American airstrike killed one of its top military leaders, the former acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Monday…

link

Looks like the escalating attack on the US embassy might have caused Washington to create a bright line that the Iranians aren't eager to cross.

Alternate view that Iran has won. link

Iran won exactly what? Their economy is suffering under our sanctions. The author of the article is an establishment pro interventionist who asks who will benefit; and comes up with "no one". I can think of a bunch of US soldiers who would benefit from not being there.

"Alternate view that Iran has won".

Now that is funny.

Someone's sampling the opium again.

It's not clear yet, but if Corona virus hits Iran as hard as some people are speculating, that could change everything. It could even mean regime change. So any evaluation of Iran right now has a short shelf-life.

That "alternate view" is old news based on the Iraqi parliament voting to recommend to the prime minister that US troops leave. That's like a non-binding vote in the US congress. It allows posturing for the public, but leads to nothing. US troops are still there…nothing has changed. But, Iran's relative lack of reaction indicates they understand there's a bit of a line they should not cross….for now.

I imagine the intel services will have a gold mine of info after monitoring the command changes that went on after what's-his-name's death, which means 'not good news' for the new guys taking over… ;-)