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Iran’s Foreign Minister Just Blinked

Iran itself carried out an attack last night to retaliate for the strike that took out Iran’s General Soleimani.

Now that the attack has been conducted, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif seems to be content in not wanting any further conflict.

Standing Down

Reports earlier today stated that Iran was ready to stand down after carrying out this attack.

Minister Zarif echoed that sentiment.

He stated, “Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched.

“We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.”

If we take his statement at face value, this would mean Iran is looking to de-escalate and would seem to be ready to come to the table at some point.

Conflicting Messages

While Zarif said Iran does not plan on escalating tensions, the message from Ayatollah Khomenei had a far different sentiment.

He equated the attack last night to a “slap in the face” and all but called more attacks.

While Iran may not directly carry out these attacks, there is nothing stopping the militia that are sympathetic to the Iranian cause to carry out attacks on their own.

Remember, these proxy groups are how Iran has conducted a significant amount of its attacks against our assets in the area.

Those groups may take the statement by Khomeini as a call to action and continue to carry out attacks.

This was a concern mentioned after the Soleimani strike, as many believed he was in direct contact with these groups and controlled their actions.

Over the next few days or hours, this will probably play out.

There are already reports of a possible attack in Baghdad, which is believed to have been carried out by one of these militia groups (this has not yet been confirmed).

This is obviously still a developing story and will be updated as necessary.

Source: The Hill

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