Following the deadly Iran-backed attack on American troops in Jordan on January 28, President Biden and his Pentagon brass pledged a "multi-tier" response for the brazen assault that killed three U.S. service members.
The retributive strikes saw at least one senior leader of Kata'ib Hezbollah — one of the handful of Iran-backed terrorist organizations that have been coordinating scores of attacks on U.S. troops in the Middle East since October — in Baghdad, but there was a notable lack of punishment for the source of all the chaos in the region: the regime in Tehran. It appears that was by Biden's design.
Instead of acting swiftly and decisively, however, the administration telegraphed its considerations and likely targets for days on end. Waiting until after the fallen heroes had returned to the United States for a dignified transfer in Dover, Delaware, the Biden administration finally began launching strikes in the region.
According to reporting from the Financial Times, "Iran pulled senior commanders of its Revolutionary Guard out of Syria days before the US launched strikes against Iranian-linked targets in the Arab state to prevent the elite force suffering further casualties." Conveniently, the IRGC "officers had left Syria by the time Washington launched air strikes five days" after Biden promised to launch a response to the attack that killed U.S. troops.
Reminding that the Biden administration said it "directly targeted Revolutionary Guard facilities in Syria," that means the agents of Tehran operating in support of Iran's terror proxies were able to get away, thanks to Biden's delays and ample warnings.
As Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), noted, Iran saving its officers' hide was "exactly what the Biden administration intended" to happen.
Exactly what the Biden administration intended when it telegraphed it was going to strike following the drone attack that killed three American troops in Jordan. https://t.co/hvmiTwnKVC
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) February 13, 2024
Even worse — and proving that Biden's strikes in response to the killing of U.S. Army Sgts. Kennedy Sanders, William Rivers, and Breonna Moffett won't prevent future attacks on American troops — is this nugget, also reported by the Financial Times.
Iranian officials, calling the decision to withdraw IRGC commanders merely a "change in tactics," received notice from the U.S. "through indirect channels that it did not seek a conflict with Iran."
That is, after Iranian patronage to terrorist organizations saw more than 170 attacks launched at U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan and took the lives of three American service members, the U.S. told Tehran we didn't seek a conflict.
That also means, as an "Iranian analyst affiliated to the Islamic regime" told the Financial Times, "[o]nce there is relative calm, these forces will return to Syria." And Tehran's support of terrorist proxies in the region will resume at full strength.