The United States is already heavily involved in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and must be held to account, an Iranian official said on Monday.
Saber-rattling in response to our deployment of a second carrier group and Biden’s comments on 60 Minutes. Iran is not interested in actually confronting the US, but it needs to offer some aggressive rhetoric to bolster its image as standing up to the evil empire. One thing the Middle East is the frequent conflation of word and action. To many Middle Easterners, supporting or condemning a thing in strong language is the functional equivalent of having actually done something about it. So defiant rhetoric–what a Westerner might call “bluster”–is actually seen as a meaningful act of defiance toward the US
Saber-rattling in response to our deployment of a second carrier group and Biden’s comments on 60 Minutes. Iran is not interested in actually confronting the US, but it needs to offer some aggressive rhetoric to bolster its image as standing up to the evil empire. One thing the Middle East is the frequent conflation of word and action. To many Middle Easterners, supporting or condemning a thing in strong language is the functional equivalent of having actually done something about it. So defiant rhetoric–what a Westerner might call “bluster”–is actually seen as a meaningful act of defiance toward the US