This is a paranoid regime. Even if the development of the...

This is a paranoid regime. Even if the development of the Caucasus airfields à even if it weren't about them, they would assume it was about them. So that in and of itself will likely provoke a response. The Iranians are not inert targets! If they started to think we were moving in the direction of a military move against them, they would start fighting us right away.