Trump's strike on Syria sends strong message to Iran

The April 14 multinational precision strike against the Bashar Assad regime’s chemical weapons facilities came with a clear political message to Syria and Iran.

A first glance sees the raid as punishing the Assad regime for gassing innocent civilians. While very justified and necessary, the more important political impact of this strike is already weighing heavy on Iran’s shoulders.

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l, all civilian casualties were carefully prevented and no Russian forces or assets suffered any hits.

Tehran, however, apparently received a very damning message, vividly seen in the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s reaction as he described the leaders of the U.S., France, and United Kingdom as “criminals.”

This attack enjoyed vast international support and bipartisan political backing in Congress, a clear sign of the mounting isolation Tehran and Damascus are dealing with. Moscow remained silent during the attack and its currency continues to stumble as we speak, paralleling a similar economic crisis in Iran.

Many have compared these attacks to last year’s launch of 59 cruise missiles in response to Assad’s Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack. This April’s raid, however, involved a coalition at work and crippled Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal, according to the Pentagon. Chemical weapons stockpiles; a research, development, and testing facility; and a command post were targeted and reportedly destroyed.

Even Assad’s heavily defended capital, Damascus, also came under attack, again sending a strong message to his regime and Tehran regarding the western alliance’s will to target even their most sensitive assets and interests.

Assad is learning that unlike the Obama years, a long list of countries will no longer tolerate its horrendous use of chemical weapons. Iran, too, is beginning to digest how its adventurism in Syria will not go unanswered and decades of investment in this country is going down the drain.

Assad will have to think twice about further atrocities as reports indicate its forces and Iran-backed militias are placing their crosshairs on rebel-held areas in Idlib in the northwest and Daraa in the south, the latter being the birthplace of the Syrian uprising.

Russia will be thinking about further implications of providing more air and ground support in Syria. An increasing number of reports show an unprecedented volume of Russian mercenaries’ involvement in the Levant.

Iran, however, sees no option other than remaining by Assad at all costs. In response to calls to engage in further talks with the West, senior Iranian officials have repeatedly indicated how a first step back will be the beginning of the end for their regime.

This is where the Trump administration can spearhead measures targeting Iran’s belligerence in Syria and across the Middle East.

The Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran has been the pioneering voice on how to effectively bring an end to the influence enjoyed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria by evicting its members and Tehran’s conglomerate of militias.

Some may dismiss the coalition’s response to Assad’s chemical raid as limited, but proportions are not key here. Washington can and should deliver measures targeting a broader concept. Iran’s influence in the region is the main cause of the majority, if not all, miseries throughout the region. Dealing with that will also ensure that chemical weapons will no longer threaten civilians in Syria.