Thread by @KyleWOrton

Senior @StateDept official - without a hint of self-awareness: "There have been... 11 attacks" in two months against bases with coalition forces "so it’s very important that we not tolerate [this] ... if we don’t respond, it will invite further aggression" state.gov/senior-state-d…

At some level, "We have acted firmly against #Iran now - you may all cheer at will - in order to prevent further aggression because they were emboldened to further and further aggression by our years of cowardice and incompetence", must strike even the #Trump people as a bit off.

The administration has, for once, done the right thing: it not only destroyed #Iranian imperial infrastructure but shed blood. The people blaming #Trump for surfacing the not-so-hidden tensions in a policy he continued from #Obama are either delusional or dishonest.

The problems with the #Trump policy is: (1) their messaging conveniently leaves out why #Iran thought it could get away with this; and (2) that policy remains intact. This is likely to be a one-off, rather than the injection of a military component into "maximum pressure".

There we are

https://twitter.com/Intel_Sky/status/1211788597881458690