Iran two fingers to Joe Biden

Almost as soon as Joe Biden authorised the retaliatory airstrike last week on an Iranian-backed militia command and communication bunker in Syria that led to one death and two injured I bet that Brigadier-General Esmail Ghaani, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, in charge of all extremist Shia militia groups operating in Iraq and Syria, thought to himself. "Right, Biden, the game is on. Next attack coming." Sure enough in the early hours this morning ten rockets were fired at the US-occupied airbase at Al-Asad in western Iraq. One civilian had a heart seizure and died but no reports of other casualties. Last week's US airstrike by two F-15E Strike Eagles was intended to be a message from Biden and the Pentagon that if Iran or Iranian-backed militia targeted bases where American troops were located they would be punished. This came after an Iranian militia unit had launched rocket attacks near Erbil in northern Iraq on February 15. Now we're in for a tit-for-tat war. Biden has to reply to today's rocket attack or it will look as if Iran is winning. Tit-for-tat can be a dangerous business because of the risk of serious escalation. But there is no question that the Quds Force is in business to try and put Biden on the spot. Much is at stake. Already Tehran has snubbed Biden by declaring no interest at this time in rejoining talks with the US on the 2015 nuclear deal. Now, with these rocket attacks, Tehran is thumbing its nose at the new US administration. The US may be a military superpower but in this sort of back-and-forth acts of violence, there is not much Biden can do except hit back but in a modest way.