Iran will now be playing it differently.

America should brace.

By Hossein Jelveh*

The site of an Iranian strike in Israel.

U.S. President Donald Trump has fallen for the massive mix of deceit and flattery that only the Israeli regime was wicked and petty enough to send his way. Largely at Israel’s urging, the United States has now carried out strikes on three nuclear facilities in a country that is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (N.P.T.) and whose facilities are under the most stringent supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.).

The United States military had of course already been heavily involved in the Israeli war on Iran that started on June 13, in everything from helping with targeting to the constant restocking of the Israeli regime’s arsenal.

But, by violating Iranian airspace and carrying out strikes against the three Iranian nuclear facilities, the United States has now turned into a direct party to the aggression. The implications for America cannot be overstated. Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had as recently as June 18 warned the United States that joining the Israeli war on Iran would bring America “irreparable harm.”

The Israeli regime had assumed that by waging on Iran a military campaign that was really deficient but that had the looks of an all-out campaign, the United States would face a fait accompli and would be dragged in inevitably. If it was, America would then do for Israel what Israel could never do on its own: topple the Iranian government.

It was a conspiracy that Israel believed impeccable.

In reality, it turned out to be a gamble that is going to bankrupt Israel.

The Iranian people, even those who had sometimes been critical of the Iranian government, are now rallying around the flag. Solidarity is blooming among the public. Salespeople are offering their merchandise at lower prices. Medical specialists are offering services free of charge. Cab drivers are offering rides free or at lower fares. Anger at the foreign aggressors is boiling among the Iranian public. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of food, medicine, or other essential goods. People are pouring onto the streets to show they stand with the government and the Armed Forces.

Iran’s friends have showed up. Yemen is about to declare war on the United States and Israel. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close confidante, Dmitry Medvedev, says “a number of countries” have offered their own nuclear warheads to Iran.

Israeli-occupied territories are turning into rubble one Iranian strike at a time. Israelis are leaving by the boatful.

Arab countries, long fearful of Israel, now see how the Tel Aviv regime’s military is struggling under the Iranian strikes.

Western leaders are calling Iran to ask for “restraint.”

And Iran has not yet resorted to the many of the cards that it holds. The Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint in the Persian Gulf that much of international oil shipments daily go through, is under Iranian control. By using that card, and it's only one, Iran can bring pain that will be felt all the way down to the gas stations across America.

Iran is now equipped not just with more options to respond with but with greater resolve in the face of what it sees as an existential war.

A military strategist and adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, who was severely wounded in but recovered from an Israeli assassination attempt on the first day of the war, had something very important to say on Sunday:

“Even assuming that the [nuclear] facilities [hit by the U.S.] have been entirely destroyed, the game would not be over, because enriched material, homegrown knowhow, and political resolve remain. Now, the political and operational initiative — with the right to legitimate defense — is held by the party that both knows how to play it smart and avoids indiscriminate fire. More surprises will be coming!”

America should brace.

(*Hossein Jelveh is the chief editor of IRNA’s English-language service. The views expressed here are his own.)