In late July, Israel sent a message to Iran and its proxies by taking out Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was in Iran celebrating its newly “elected” president. Only a few hours before that, Israel terminated Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut — a response to the missile attack that killed 12 children in northern Israel who were playing soccer.

Iran has been using terror proxies to attack and constrict Israel, and Israel’s message was that they better back off. Iran is furious that the Jewish state dared to assassinate an individual within its own borders and has declared it will retaliate. The mullahs’ usual saber-rattling is now more earnest. After all, Israel’s successful assassinations were a humiliation in their eyes.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board says, “The Pentagon is sending more naval and air assets to the Middle East, and Israel is on high alert, as Iran positions its military for a potential attack on the Jewish state. Meanwhile, Hamas announced Sunday that it has no interest in the U.S.-brokered ‘final round of negotiations’ for a Gaza cease-fire.” Hamas also killed a hostage and wounded two others to further underline its rejection of peace talks. Hamas militants don’t want peace, and that’s what the Biden administration is either willfully misunderstanding or simply doesn’t care enough about.

The threat is serious enough at this point that the U.S. has sent a submarine and several destroyers to the region in support of Israel. The U.S. is finally resorting to deterrence tactics, but it’s probably too little, too late. Democrats here have already shown their soft underbelly in the form of caving to the mobs of pro-Hamas anarchists and Vice President Kamala Harris snubbing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he addressed Congress.

Germany, France, and the UK have also joined together in urging Iran to not retaliate. Considering that the Houthis (Iran’s terror proxy in Yemen) also continue to terrorize shipping lanes, this latest “Don’t” will likely fall on deaf ears. Iran has found that it can get away with mass murder and yet still have its proxies painted as the victims thanks to the West’s intersectional hierarchy and the Left’s “oppressor/oppressed” narrative.

Some think Iran has too much to lose in an all-out war with Israel. They posit that Iran will hit hard but also light enough not to cross Israel’s “red line” — i.e., an attack on civilian areas.

National Review’s Andrew McCarthy posits: “Iran does not know how thoroughly Israel has mapped the regime’s capabilities and pre-targeted its principal leaders, operatives, and assets. The mullahs would be edified the hard way if they triggered an all-out war. That’s why they refrain from doing so. With the advantage of an accommodating American government, they can afford to play the long game. With its territory being effectively contracted, Israel can’t afford to abide that game much longer.”

Out the one side of its mouth, the Biden administration wants to keep the peace in the region. And out the other side of its mouth, it desperately wants to appease the Democrats’ pro-Hamas voting base. It’s a ridiculous and morally bankrupt game this administration is playing, and it’s Joe Biden’s own fault that this conflagration in the Middle East is threatening to become a wider war.