For US President Joe Biden, it is impossible to do anything other than respond to the fact that three American soldiers died and that Iran is considered behind, let alone via proxy. It is the first time since the beginning of the Gaza war and the subsequent events in the region that the lives of American soldiers have been extinguished. And Iran’s denials are not listened to.
According to John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, those responsible must face the consequences. For the US, it is therefore about giving a limited, but very clear answer that cannot be misinterpreted as emphasis. But the US must not take the first step towards a major regional conflict either.
Eliminate high commanders
One possibility is that the United States eliminates senior commanders within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. They constitute “big game” and people who can be difficult to find, but with the help of intelligence services among US allies it is not judged impossible.
The commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, was killed in a US drone attack on Baghdad airport in 2020, to name a high-profile past case of exceptionally high symbolic value for the US.
Additional sanctions
Other ways to set an example for Iran are to impose further sanctions on the country or to go harder on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen by killing people in the leadership. The important thing for the US is to make a clear mark against Iran without the Middle East starting to boil even more than today.