Following Donald Trump’s unexpected strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the world has been bracing itself to see what the ripple effects will be. The one thing most experts and commentators can agree upon is that it ain’t gonna be good.

President Trump took to Twitter to tell Iran to take their lumps and do nothing. In a three-tweet thread he stated that “if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!”

There were many critiques about this statement, specifically about Trump’s threat to target “the Iranian culture,” but the most striking reply came from Maj. Gen. Hossein Dehghan in an interview with to CNN.

“If he says 52 we say 300 -- and they are accessible to us,” he said, directly addressing the President’s tweet. “No American military staff, no American political center, no American military base, no American vessel will be safe.”

Dehghan, who was Iran’s Minister of Defense from 2013 to 2017 and now serves as a military advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, said that Iran is not looking for a larger conflict with the United States, but will respond to the Soleimani killing. “The response for sure will be military and against military sites,” he said, nixing suggestions that Iran might be eyeing a cyber retaliation as they have done before.

"It was America that has started the war. Therefore, they should accept appropriate reactions to their actions," he told CNN. "The only thing that can end this period of war is for the Americans to receive a blow that is equal to the blow they have inflicted. Afterward they should not seek a new cycle.”

Trump’s later tweets suggest that this does not reflect his current mindset. “They attacked us, & we hit back. If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!” he wrote while quote-tweeting Texas Congressperson Dan Crenshaw.

He then added, “The United States just spent Two Trillion Dollars on Military Equipment. We are the biggest and by far the BEST in the World! If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way...and without hesitation!”

Before going any further, we turn to geopolitical commentator Samuel L. Jackson for some very important words.

While jingoistic rhetoric isn’t exactly new, Trump’s tweet about “52 Iranian sites” shows that part of him is still deriving policy from his NBC game show roots. The “magic number” element, drawn from the high-ratings hostage crisis from late 70s history, certainly comes off a bit sweeps week.

Moreover, the decision to target “the Iranian culture” seems antithetical to American military engagement. One can’t help but think of the Taliban’s decision to blow up the nearly 1500-year-old sandstone Buddhist statues in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley.

In a tweet of her own, Senator Elizabeth Warren said Trump was “threatening to commit war crimes” and told him to stop.

Vice President Joe Biden, sounding more like a frustrated man at the end of a long day, tweeted “the more the walls close in on this guy, the more irrational he becomes.”