Iran attacks Israel: Biden’s big power test
In a dreadful moment for the world, Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday, although about 99% were claimed to have been intercepted by Israeli and allied forces, with losses kept down by an iron dome to damage of an army base and a child’s injury. Tehran had retaliated against Israel’s strike on its consulate in Syria and its United Nations message was that the “matter can be deemed concluded".
With a symbolic point made, this offers Israel, with the US rallying back to its defence after some dithering, a chance to call it quits. Yet, an escalation that sends regional hostility and oil prices flaring is running red-hot as a risk, unless US President Joe Biden can convince Israel not to hit back.
A wider conflagration in West Asia may result in an oil shock at a time inflation has shown signs of settling down, globally, to give economies everywhere a chance to expand faster. Biden’s political prospects already seem injured by US backing for a war that has claimed thousands of civilian lives.
The Gaza War’s rising death toll may also have inflamed opinion against the US across the Islamic world. Biden’s leadership challenge is to cap and roll back hostilities—for everyone’s sake.
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