Despite significant lead-in time to the sequence of events; fixed positions to which parties on all sides remained true; and nothing so far that could be seen as unexpected, the last 24 hours have nevertheless left the Middle East with a clear nervous edge following President Trump’s withdrawal of the Iranian nuclear agreement and an air strike [killing 15 of whom 8 were Iranian nationals and presumed to have been carried out by Israeli jet fighters] merely moments after the president concluded his remarks. Adding to the anxiety, Israeli defense officials ordered bomb shelters in the northern areas of the country to be opened and cleaned out sufficiently for use. The Israeli military, which rarely comments on its operations, reported that the missiles hit in the strike were aimed at the Jewish state – albeit without reporting how many were hit, how many were aimed at Israel before the operation, and how many remain “locked and loaded.” What was revealed is that the base hit Tuesday night was known to be used by Iranian military forces and had been the target of at least one previous Israeli attack. Despite the accentuated tensions the president’s move and Israeli action is said to have caused, feeling in the region appears to be overwhelmingly in support of those moves. The Media Line renewed contact with Iranian critics of the regime in Tehran just moments after the Trump speech to find media portrayals of an Iranian society up in arms against President Trump to be a gross exaggeration.
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