The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed credit for a missile attack that targeted U.S. positions in Iraq.

Iranian media maintain that the IRGC fired “ballistic missiles” — which some U.S. officials asserted originated inside Iranian territory — on an Israeli espionage outfit that hosted “anti-Iranian terrorist groups.” But the targets that Iran hit reportedly include facilities in close proximity to the U.S. consulate in Erbil, and video clips making their way out of Iraq indicate that some powerful projectiles found their marks.

The escalation — and it is an escalation — follows several U.S. and British strikes on positions used by the Iran-backed Houthi militia to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea but also a series of Israeli air strikes on IRGC targets in Syria. With tonight’s strikes in Erbil, Iran is communicating in clear terms that it is undeterred.

As we observed following Biden’s strikes on Houthi positions, the costs that America and its allies finally impose on Iran’s proxies in response to its wildly successful campaign of region-wide aggression since the October 7 massacre do not exceed that campaign’s benefits. Iran will continue to up the ante until the costs of its provocations become too great to absorb. The challenges to Biden’s resolve will continue until he summons the courage to meet them. The longer he dithers, refusing to impose disproportionate costs on America’s adversaries, the more reckless their provocations will become. Hopefully, the president can find his spine before Iran’s campaign of terror results in an event so terrible that even Biden can’t ignore it.