Iran Gambles on Escalation With Surprise Attack on U.S. Forces

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Updated July 29, 2026 12:13 pm ET | Jared Malsin and Suha Ma’ayeh

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Airstrikes in Jordan show Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is willing to risk Trump’s retaliation

Iran’s surprise missile attack on U.S. forces in Jordan shows Tehran’s military leaders would rather risk ramping up the war than play defense or accept a peace deal that would expose them to greater domestic political pressures.

Iran fired ballistic missiles on U.S. troops early Wednesday local time, demonstrating a willingness by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which exerts more power than ever in Tehran, to escalate during a relative lull in the conflict and attempt to seize the initiative after weeks in which Iran has mostly reacted to U.S. and Israeli attacks.

President Trump was cited by Fox News as saying the U.S. would hit Iran hard in response to the attack. “They’re going to get a beating,” chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst early Wednesday quoted Trump as telling him. The White House didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.

A senior Jordanian government official said five missiles were intercepted in Jordan’s eastern desert and caused no injuries or material damage. The official declined to comment on the specific targets of the missiles. U.S. troops are posted to a Jordanian base near the Syrian border and at a separate air base in the desert where an Iranian missile strike killed two American servicemembers earlier this month. The Jordanian official said the Iranian attack showed the region was undergoing dramatic change.

The attack illustrates a fundamental shift in which the IRGC has grown more assertive and more comfortable with a state of war that could continue for months, rather than enter into a peace in which it would have to face public dissatisfaction with Iran’s struggling economy and its lethal clampdown on protesters earlier this year, analysts say.

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TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: albertatroll; ceasefiremisfire; groundhogday; iran; iranescalates; iraq; irgc; jaredmalsin; jordan; koranimals; leftistsource; mou2; saudiarabia; suhamaayeh; wallstreeturinal; yemen

[SaveFerris]

(These religious fanatics want WW3.)

Yes. Time to drag this one out again.

Because ... 12th Imam Mahdi and all that jive...

Shia (Shiite) Islam Twelfth Imam Mahdi (D-Qom, Iran)

(The apocalyptic vision of Iran’s ruling mullahs (clerics and Supreme Leader) is rooted in Twelver Shia eschatology—the dominant branch of Shia Islam in Iran—and centers on actively preparing for and hastening the return of the “Hidden Imam,” or Mahdi (the 12th Imam)

The Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, Iran - 12th Imam Mahdi
is in the well behind the Mosque reading
their prayer requests (they believe)

BTW, the Twelfth Imam Mahdi is a five (5) year-old-kid; DEAD for 1,152+ years (873–874 A.D.)



[All pictures are posted for Educational Purposes
in accordance with Fair Use]

[Alberta's Child]

The reason we havent been invaded more often is two fold: For one, we are blessed by being surrounded by large oceans East and West. Second, we decided at some point in our 250 year history that we would rather fight the enemy on his turf than have the enemy here on our turf.

Your first point is the only one that matters. By your standards, Canada has been invaded even fewer times than the U.S. — and they’ve spend the last 80 years stripping away their military capabilities and reducing their overseas military commitments to almost nothing.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

These religious fanatics want WW3.

So do the war groupies here.

[NonValueAdded]

Confidential to PDJT: TUCO’S LAW!!! If you are going to shoot, shoot; don’t talk.

[Gene Eric]

to what degree is the MSM providing aid to Iran?

[dfwgator]

Confidential to PDJT: TUCO’S LAW!!! If you are going to shoot, shoot; don’t talk.

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Really.

[muir_redwoods]

I am resolutely anti-war but one thing is absolutely true, one cannot be slightly at war. It is time to smash these cockroaches with extreme prejudice. Their hiding places should become muddy puddles and the pain should be felt unto the third generation

[Empire_of_Liberty]

I think that it may well show it. Pallets of cash are not this effective.

Trump is likely being sabotaged by his own administration.

The Right does not appreciate the secure communications of the Left.

I expect that they are too stupid to.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I am resolutely anti-war but one thing is absolutely true, one cannot be slightly at war. It is time to smash these cockroaches with extreme prejudice. Their hiding places should become muddy puddles and the pain should be felt unto the third generation

It's an asymmetric war.

The IRGC doesn't care what you do to the denizens of Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, etc. You can nuke them for all they care. They recently murdered 53,000 of them themselves for the crime of protesting against them in the streets.

The IRGC don't live in the cities. They are scattered around in hundreds of wack-a-mole subterranean military bases throughout the 320,000 square miles of Iran's mountain terrain. The mountainous area alone is 1.2 times the size of Texas.

Merely keeping the strait of Hormuz shut down cripples the global economy, and all they have to do to accomplish it is occasionally launch a drone or missile at a ship from any of their hundreds of remote bases. The quantity of fertilizer for next year's crops has already been decimated by the shut down. What do you think happens next, when there isn't enough fertilizer?

In an asymmetric war, time is on the side of the asymmetric guy. The longer the war drags on, the more global damage is done and the more the United States is hated for making it happen. And they can drag it on for a long, long time.

Yeah, we could eventually crush them like cockroaches, but Trump already referenced how long the Vietnam War lasted and he is gearing up the military draft.

He knows it will take years and American blood, and by then the direct effects of war will have reached your doorstep, unlike previous wars.

[Fai Mao]

“{IMO, that’s worse than an Iranian nuke.”

My thoughts too

[abigkahuna]

Is it time for numerous MOABs ?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Is it time for numerous MOABs ?

How many "numerous MOABs" do we have?

Iran has hundreds of subterranean bases scattered throughout 320,000 square miles of mountains.

[flamberge]

I doubt that killing some with dampen the enthusiasm of those left to carry on the struggle.

For America to prevail in this conflict, I believe we will need to kill almost all of the IRGC cadres. That means killing several million Iranians as "collateral damage".

I am not seeing us with the will to do that.

[Theophilus]

It's an asymmetric war.

Every war that has ever been fought was "asymmetric". Even Chess is asymmetric.

[abigkahuna]

Send em all over ‘cept for one in reserve. Use them not only for the underground, but infrastructure...I think Kharq Is is a good place to test a MOAB on infrastructure, don’t you?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Even Chess is asymmetric.

Standard chess is one of the most perfectly symmetric serious board games ever created.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I think Kharq Is is a good place to test a MOAB on infrastructure, don’t you?

Whatever you say, General.

[BK_in Central Texas]

You have to wonder on this site how many of these people are paid “astro turf”?...you can be against war and still recognize the world will be a better and safer place when these vermin are disposed of. There are two or ten posters here who are quit literally either morons or paid. Wonder what it is?

[BK_in Central Texas]

“and he is gearing up the military draft.”

Honest question....are you insane?

[sipow]

It is exactly what it demands now.