Joe Biden has promised the US will "respond" to the assault on Tower 22, which left three US navy personnel useless and dozens wounded.

The drawback is that the US has already been responding to assault after assault on its bases within the Middle East - and has nonetheless failed to discourage them.

There have been greater than 160 thus far.

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And the US has retaliated to these - the graphic beneath exhibits their assaults since 27 October.

They already embrace strikes in opposition to bases operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - the regime's strongest navy drive - quite than proxy militias.

Defence and safety analyst Professor Michael Clarke mentioned: "What the Americans have been making an attempt to do was be very graduated of their response - at all times to reply to particular person assaults with one other retaliation on the place the place the assault got here from.

"It clearly has led the Iranians to really feel that they will carry on pushing America. So, I believe the very fact American service personnel have been killed has crossed a line.

"The Americans now have gotten to determine if they should take a step up by way of their response."

Would a response that included sanctions or maybe a cyberattack actually be a step up?

Many Iranian officers are already below sanctions and there's home stress on Mr Biden to go additional.

Professor Clarke means that an alternative choice could be to focus on Iranian ships within the Red Sea and connecting waters: "The Americans might regard that as a sensible target since they're all part of the Iran's attempts to create a crisis for America."

IRGC quick boats function frequently within the Strait of Hormuz and have seized oil tankers prior to now.

Earlier this month, Iran additionally introduced that its warship Alborz, a frigate, had entered the Red Sea.

There's additionally the Behshad.

The ship formally carries cargo however navy analysts say it carries out surveillance that has been important for all of the Houthi assaults - one other Iranian-backed militia that kinds a part of the identical so-called "axis of resistance".

Those could be Iranian property, however nonetheless exterior Iran. Further up the escalation ladder could be an assault on Iranian territory itself.

That could possibly be restricted to the coast, maybe. Or they may strike the inside - even perhaps on nuclear services.

That is the very prime of the ladder - and the US wouldn't begin there, if solely to present itself room to climb sooner or later.

On Monday, Iran's international ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani mentioned that his nation "does not welcome the expansion of conflicts in the region".

And Mr Biden mentioned on Tuesday that "we don't need a wider war in the Middle East" however he had selected an unspecified response.

Others would argue that, with the dying of US navy personnel, the broader battle is already right here.

Content Source: information.sky.com