Experts: Alleged Plot Shows Iran has No Fear of US

If the Justice Department account is accurate, the plot was launched with the approval of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and means Iran's leaders “did not fear a muscular American response,” said former CIA officer Reuel Marc Gerecht, now with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

“They don't believe we'd militarily respond and don't fear any sanctions we might throw at them,” Gerecht said.

The Iranian goal, he said, is to bleed both the USA and Saudi Arabia “on their home turf, showing quite clearly, 'You are not safe at home.'” …

Iran and Saudi Arabia are “the two most religiously aggressive states in the Middle East” and have engaged in a sometimes-bloody rivalry to advance each country's version of political Islam, Gerecht said. …

Unless the U.S. responds forcefully, “we are setting the stage for further Iranian belligerence, because they will see that they can plan an operation … get caught, and the Americans do nothing,” Gerecht said.