The Middle East woke up Saturday to a geopolitical earthquake: a U.S.-Israeli strike inside Iran, the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones streaking across the skies of the Gulf. But amid the chaos, one country moved with unusual clarity and speed—Syria. For the …

From the very first hours of this latest regional firestorm, one truth has become unmistakable: no corner of the Middle East lies beyond the reach of Iran’s retaliation. Missiles have struck Syria, Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf states, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Tehran has chosen escalation as strategy—hitting any …

The Trump administration is exploring options to arm Kurdish forces operating near the Iran–Iraq border with the aim of increasing pressure on the Iranian regime. The heavy concentration of Israeli strikes along Iran’s western border with Iraq suggests a deliberate strategy aimed at degrading Tehran’s defensive infrastructure in that region. …