Iranians consider that they have established a "balance of terror": they are aware that the US can attack them, either directly or via proxies somewhere in the Middle East, but the US has a lot of assets spread out over the Middle East and beyond, which Iranians believe they could also hit. The notion of there being a "balance of terror", in the region and beyond, is important. This is significant because, while in the Middle East there used to be only the Israel-Palestine conflict -- which is still the source of many ills --, the region is currently ridden with conflict. But these two camps are choosing the entire region of the Middle East and parts of North Africa as their battleground. There is no mystery about where these movements come from: they thrive on chaos and poor governance, a chronic problem in the region.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 16, 2020 12:33 UTC