Hezbollah and other militias backed by Iran have instigated encounters with US forces despite the agreements made by the US and Russia with the purpose of ensuring that factions targeting ISIS do not get involved in conflict against each other. Analysts and experts say that Iran is doing this to test the resolve of the Trump administration.

A senior official of the Trump administration said that with each test, the US is responding by defending itself.

The clashes in question came about because Iran, Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian regime forces violated the de-confliction measure that is in place. The US forces have now been authorised to respond forcefully to Iran if the situation requires.

The Trump official said that it sent a clear message to Iran when the US forces started to defend themselves.

These moves come at a time when the Trump administration is looking at Iran’s paramilitary force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which runs operations in Syria and other places across the Middle East.

The IRGC has been on the receiving end of numerous calls for it to be designated as a terrorist organisation and the Trump administration is realising that it is the Iranian regime’s malign enforcer.

The Trump administration is currently undergoing a policy review for Iran and it was reported that it is putting measures in place so that US-made commercial aircraft cannot be sold to Iran.

These latest actions, in addition to the numerous measures against Iran already taken by the Trump administration, show that the US will no longer appease the regime in the way that the Obama administration did. The Trump administration is not holding its tongue or turning a blind eye to Iran’s actions. It is working on a solution that will last so that the Iranian regime’s belligerence can be confronted and curbed once and for all.

The policy review is looking at far more than just the nuclear deal. The Iranian regime’s belligerence extends out to its ballistic missile program, its spread of terrorism across the Middle East, its backing of numerous proxies, its arms trade and movement across the region and its mistreatment of the people at home.

The people of Iran have been denied human rights for decades and executions are still being carried out at an alarming rate. People in Iran are tortured and jailed for arbitrary reasons, and minorities are discriminated against. The UN and several human rights organisations have repeatedly called Iran out on its human rights record.