“We had no choice but to escalate and start a big fire so everyone would see,” the regime insider said. “When our red lines were crossed in violation of all international laws, we could no longer adhere to the rules of the game.”

As opposed to before when you adhered to the rules of the game? Bruh, c’mon bruh.

“this war is going on gracefully with [Khamenei’s] designing”

Well great then. Apparently everything is peachy.

I do wonder where the balance is, because it has to be one. Basically they want to hit them hard enough to get them to pressure USA/Israel into stopping but not hard enough that they start seeing the short-term cost of this war as being bearable for the long-term benefit of no longer having neighbor ruled under Islamic rule.