Asymmetric Warfare

Iran's carefully calibrated retaliation for the killing of Qasem Suleimani shows how astute  Iran's leadership is. The missile strike allowed it to appease an already angry domestic audience, to demonstrate its improved technological capabilities, all without killing or even injuring any Americans which would have made US retaliation inevitable. That was needle very carefully threaded. The contrast with the White House is stark and illustrates another sense in which Iran and the US are in an asymmetric struggle; the US has the stronger military, but Iran clearly has the smarter leader.