Strikes on Iranian proxies vital

US airstrikes on Friday on sites in Iraq and Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were what the current dangerous situation needed. The strikes, on 85 targets at seven facilities, four in Syria and three in Iraq, killed about 40 people but were targeted to avoid civilian casualties, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. They were carried out in response to the killing of three US soldiers in a drone attack, by militants linked to Tehran, that hit a US base in Jordan last Sunday. The retaliation was “proportionate”, Anthony Albanese said on Sunday. So was the weekend action by the US and Britain in hitting dozens of targets in Yemen to counter repeated attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels. The Houthis’ campaign, also backed by Iran, amounts to an economic war against much of the world, putting global trade at risk. The strikes in Yemen hit 36 Houthi sites where deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defence systems and radars were located, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

The Biden administration has shied away from risking direct military conflict with the ruling ayatollahs by not hitting targets inside Iran, as some Republicans have urged. But anything less than the action taken in the past few days would be too little, and seen by the enemy as a sign of weakness after Iranian proxies have fired on US soldiers and infrastructure in the Middle East more than 160 times since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has urged all parties to avoid further escalation in the Middle East. That depends mainly on Iran. Attacks on US and allied soldiers and on international shipping cannot be let pass without strong responses.

With typical fanaticism, Hamas, whose October 7 terrorist attack on Israel sparked the current spiral of violence, accused Washington of pouring “oil on the fire”.

Proportionate as the US and British actions were, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said they would intensify instability. That is no surprise. The ayatollahs seem ready, through their proxies, to escalate aggression. They want the US out of the Middle East so Tehran can establish regional dominance. Further attacks must be met with effective force.