Iran knows it could lose a lot if war spreads

Two people on a motorcycle ride past large Palestinian flags hanging next to Hamas (right) and Hizbullah (centre) logos in Palestine Square in Tehran on October 17th. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA The US air strike on Iran-backed militia arsenals in eastern Syria in the early hours of Friday morning was both a message to Tehran to stay out of the Gaza war and retaliation for 18 recent attacks on US bases in Syria and Iraq. The strike followed a warning against targeting US military personnel in the region by US president Joe Biden to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who…