Iran has picked it's allies poorly. As soon as rockets start going Russia and China will back down at a rate of knots. In fact, the only official response from a true Iranian ally has been a canned response from China that echoes the general European response "calm down everyone." Simply put, WW3 isn't going to happen, but the fall of Iran will hand the middle east over to the Israeli and Saudi governments. As I'm not a politician, the man in question Qasem Soleimani, was a ****. His death could not have come sooner, and he was dodging a bullet for years. He didn't just direct terrorism, he walked among it and enjoyed the stench. He poked the US constantly, he walked openly on battle sites, directed attacks on US targets, armed anti-US groups, he was baiting and baiting for war, completely opposed and did all he could to prevent peace talks. Iran is not a puppet master, it's a puppet. It does whatever it's directors tell it to, in this case it's Russia. But Russia isn't what it used to be, they cannot and will not, come to the defense of Iran. They have simply overplayed their hand with an unpredictable opponent.
A Pakistani friend of mine said he's clenching his butthole waiting for troops to pour over the border. He says that generally the Pakistani's do whatever the Saudi's say.
**** knows why anyone thinks the Iranians are weak they willing to die for Bantz let alone for umpteen Virgins
For the US, it's just about making Iran unable to conduct terrorist activity in the middle east. Turning Iran into Libya does that.
Iran had to show their people that they would do something in return. They are calling it a legitimate act of self defence and I presume they have targeted this base as it was the one that the drone attack was launched from. To be fair, as much as I hate any conflict, it's a measured response. Can you imagine how the US would react if somebody like Mike Pompeo was assassinated by Iran in Canada ? They would go ****ing mental and start pummelling Iranian cities. Hopefully, this will appease both sides and they'll de-escalate.