No, this is not an escalation. This is business as usual from the Iranians. Let's take a ride down memory lane. 4 Nov 1979 to 20 Jan 1981 52 Americans are held hostage by Iranian. Iran created and financed Hezbollah who routinely kill people in Lebanon and seek to establish a Shia Islamic Republic. For example, 23 Oct 1983 Iran's Hezbollah agents in Lebanon blow up a barracks with 1200 pound bomb 299 marines and 6 civilians. In 1992 and 1994, Iran's proxy Hezbollah blew up an Israeli Embassy and a Jewish Community Center in Argentina killing 121 people in these combined attacks. In Jul 2006, Hezbollah, under Iranians guidance, kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in Israel and caused the war last Summer with Israel. During that war, Iranian-made rockets and Iranian bought missiles and rockets rained down on civilians in Israel. Iran has supplied the training - mostly Hezbollah trainers - and weapons used in IEDs that kill American forces and coalition forces in Iraq. Iran has been doing this and much more for a long, long time.