Iran Is Acting Like the International Villain of Trump’s Prophecy
It was an explosion at an Iran-aligned Shiite militia base in an obscure corner of Iraq—at worst, it could have had global implications, by plunging the United States and Iran into a dangerous new round of escalation.
The speculation on social media about the incident last week was rife: Perhaps it was a U.S. or Israeli air strike against Iranian weapons or proxies. On the heels of the U.S. downing of an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, either seemed possible, especially since Iraq’s militia already had the potential to become the next flashpoint in the U.S.-Iran crisis. The fevered conjecture even led the U.S. to issue a statement, saying Washington was not involved in the incident.
The reports that emerged in the the base had been hit by a grenade dropped from a drone—a relatively unsophisticated style of attack that ISIS often and that anyone with a consumer drone and some mechanical skill could carry out. Then, on Monday, an Iraqi media said the militia had launched its own investigation into the explosion and determined it was caused by a fire.
