Last week, the United States conducted the most expansive military action against Iran’s militia network since the Iraq War; but the five-day delay in launching the strikes meant that all Iranian IRGC personnel had evacuated, along with militia commanders and leaders.

For now, this appears to be in keeping with the Biden administration’s desire to avoid targeting Iran or Iranians specifically — a strategy that does little except feed Iranian confidence that its long-term proxy-driven attritional campaign against the US is working.

In launching a wave of strikes on Iranian proxy militant targets in western Iraq and eastern Syria late on Feb. 2, the United States conducted the most expansive military action against Iran’s militia network since the Iraq War — hitting 85 targets with 125 munitions. Of the 34 confirmed fatalities, all were locals, except four Afghan members of Liwa Fatemiyoun (an Afghan Shi’a force founded and supported by Tehran). The US attacks were in response to a Jan. 28 drone assault by Iranian militia forces in Syria that killed three American troops based in Jordan.

Taken in isolation, the US strikes were unquestionably significant, but if the Biden administration hoped that Iran and its proxies would be deterred, they were wrong. Three new attacks targeting US troop positions were recorded the following day, on Feb. 3 (two in Syria and one in Iraq); and late on Feb. 4, an Iranian-made suicide drone precisely struck a building housing the US-trained commando unit of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) inside the al-Omar US military base in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. Seven SDF commandos were killed and 18 more injured. Beyond attacks, the entire Iranian proxy propaganda network swiftly returned to online service — disseminating threats, news, and attack claims — after having gone completely offline in the days prior to the strikes.

The fact that it took five days for the strikes to occur ensured that all Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel had evacuated, along with militia commanders and leaders. The only militia personnel left behind were night guards. While stores of Iranian-made drones and rockets were destroyed, Iran’s most valuable assets — commanders and operatives — survived, safe to fight another day. For now, this appears to be in keeping with the Biden administration’s desire to avoid targeting Iran or Iranians specifically — a strategy that does little except feed Iranian confidence that its long-term proxy-driven attritional campaign against the US is working.

That the strikes were conducted by long-range B-1 bombers flown directly from California served to underline another Iranian advantage. Purposely avoiding the use of air or naval assets pre-positioned in bases across the Middle East was a clear recognition that America’s regional allies and partners want no association with the strikes — out of concern that Tehran could direct its proxies to target them in response. Such attacks, whether launched from Iraq or Yemen, have happened before, and the resulting deterrent effect clearly remains to Iran’s advantage.