For the most part, it’s just more of the same old shhhhtuf.
For those that are still in a holiday feast fest coma, here is the issue in a nutshell. The US embassy in Iraq was attacked. A top level Iranian official was killed in a drone attack. That’s it, and even that may be a bit on the alarmist side of the spectrum. Using the word “attacked” might be an exaggeration.
Sure, there was rioting going on outside. A few things were thrown at or perhaps even over the wall. Big whoop! Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it was serious enough to make everyone inside those embassy walls a little more than uneasy, but I doubt that there was ever a danger of the embassy being actually attacked in any meaningful way. Let’s face it, if Iran really wanted the embassy to become a pile of rubble, the ability is there.
Soon after, a top Iranian general was killed in a drone attack. Was it retaliation? Of course not, the US cannot legally do that sort of thing (insert sarcastic facial expression here). Now we are left hearing about the Iran-US verbal peeing match with Iranian chats of death to America and everything that comes with it. Iran has vowed retaliation.
Whenever tensions escalate like this out of the Middle East, our minds turn to thoughts of terror attacks from sleeper cells, dirty bombs, cyber attacks et al. The real problem is that all these threats and probably more are always there and should never be ignored, but at the same time, recent events only serve to raise the possibility slightly. I find it highly unlikely that Iran would do anything overly outrageous as I am sure they are more than aware of the consequences.
In all honesty, I expect political prisoners to be taken hostage, US foreign interests to be targeted, and cyber attacks are probably ongoing as you read this. Nothing out of the usual actually, perhaps just a little ramped up.
So please, keep calm and carry on.