The attack on the US embassy in Baghdad was just the latest in ongoing Iranian provocations in the region. An American drone was shot down in the Persian Gulf in October, and there have been attacks on US oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and on oil tankers near Oman. The American response arrived a bit late, but was particularly painful.

The assassination of Qassim Soleimani, together with Abu Mahdi al-Mohandas, deputy head of the “Popular Recruitment Militia” (al-Arakib al-Shababi) on Friday by the Americans was a major blow to the Iranian leadership. Soleimani was not only a general and commander of the Al-Quds Forces of the Revolutionary Guards, he was like an adopted and beloved son of the supreme spiritual leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. The two had a very intimate relationship and mutual admiration. Soleimani wielded extensive powers and authority in Iran, second only to the supreme leader.

News of the death of Soleimani sparked in the Arab world loud expressions of joy and reveling, particularly in Iraq, the Persian Gulf and regions of Syria and Lebanon....