ran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boasted the day after Iran shot multiple ballistic missiles at a base containing U.S. soldiers that “last night we slapped the U.S. on the face”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: (translated)
"Today we are armed. The nation of Iran is equipped today against the bullies of the world. Last night, we slapped the U.S. on the face. When it comes to confrontation, military actions of this kind are not enough.
What is important is the corrupt presence of the United States in this region must come to an end. They brought war and hostility and deception and destruction to this region. Wherever they go, this happens.
They are still insisting that this corruption this, this destructiveness should be imposed on Iran."
Goldberg continues,
Despite the bluster, it currently appear that there have been zero casualties.
Nick Patton Walsh offers 3 explanations as to why the Iran missile strike appeared to produce minimal actual damage.
First, that Khamenei, Iran’s octogenarian Supreme Leader, is out of touch with what his military can achieve and overestimated the effectiveness of the strikes, which then failed.
Such a miscalculation would be surprising, given his reported involvement in and knowledge of Iranian military affairs.
Second, that moderation won out, and this largely empty signal — hitting military targets in the dead of night with a small number of missiles — provides the off-ramp both sides might ultimately have been looking for.
This would be logical, given that neither Tehran nor Washington has much to gain from a prolonged fight.
Third, it might be a bid by Iran to lull the US into a false sense of security — that Iran is militarily weak and has done its worst — while an asymmetrical and nastier response is plotted.
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