“Well, there will be a response, not just because they’re saying it, but because he was part of the core of the regime, the right-hand man, in many respects, to the supreme leader. For the supreme leader not to react when there’s a threat to the core of the regime would suggest, somehow, they’re willing to live with things of that sort.
“Having said that, Ali Khamenei is someone who was very much scared by the Iran/Iraq war, doesn’t like direct military conflict, always looks at the idea of using proxies and indirection. So while I expect there to be a retaliation and a response, I don’t assume it’s going to be immediate, to begin with. I don’t assume it’s going to be direct, necessarily…”