Nearly a month after President Trump informed Congress that the Iran war is “terminated,” the belligerents continue to routinely trade fire in the Persian Gulf, as Iran refuses to abide by the ceasefire. The latest exchange of fire came Tuesday, resulting in one death and dozens of injuries after an Iranian missile struck civilian infrastructure in a country not at war with it. Iran is clearly the “bad guy,” but the breathless denunciations so freely hurled at the first insinuation of Israeli misconduct are strangely absent on the Left.

The skirmish began with Iran firing one-way attack drones at civilian shipping in the Persian Gulf. U.S. Central Command shot down three of the drones and responded with strikes on Iranian ground control stations on Qeshm Island.

After that, Iran launched a volley of projectiles toward Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. Bahrain’s air defenses “intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones,” with no damage resulting.

Iran also launched a volley toward Kuwait, where the U.S. operates several military bases. Two missiles failed to reach their targets, and some were intercepted, but Kuwait had to deal with a total of 13 missiles and 17 drones.

One missile that was not intercepted crashed into Kuwait’s international airport at dawn, causing “severe material damage” and suspending air traffic. Clearly, the missile was not aimed at a U.S. military base, which would have been a legitimate military target. The Iranian attack killed one Indian national and injured 63 other people in the airport. It sounds like an open-and-shut war crime — or at least it would be, for anyone named “Israel.”

For their part, Iran pointed fingers at the U.S. Earlier on Tuesday, an American aircraft fired a missile into the engine room of a sanctioned oil tanker trying to run the U.S. blockade and reach Iran’s Kharg Island, its oil export hub. Iran claimed that it launched drones at ships in the Persian Gulf in response to this incident, and that it launched missile barrages at Bahrain and Kuwait in response to America’s retaliatory strikes.

By even issuing such an explanation, Iran continues to insult the world’s intelligence by insisting that they fall for a patent lie. Seizing or disabling ships that try to run a blockade is a basic function of maintaining a naval blockade. If there were no hazard to venturing past the U.S. Navy, then the presence of its ships would not slow traffic, and if it never made good on its threats to use force against ships that tried to slip past, then the threat of force would lose its effect.

Iran understands how this game is played. In fact, it previously blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, creating a precedent to justify America’s action. The entry to the Persian Gulf is like a high-stakes version of the playground game “sharks and minnows.” The shadowy fleet of ships aligned with Iran wants to slip past the powerful American sharks, but they understand that anyone who gets tagged in the attempt must be considered “out.”

Of course, in such a playground game, it would be entirely inappropriate for a child who was tagged out to stamp off in a huff and “retaliate” against the kid who tagged him by punching the tagger’s little sister in the face. It would be even more bizarre if he stamped off and punched some random little girl in the face and claimed that it was in retaliation. Such a child would face severe consequences, parents would be involved, and charges might even be filed. Certainly, a cloud would hang over his participation in future games.

Yet this is what Iran did Tuesday — and what it has done repeatedly and consistently since February 28. Iran’s war is with the U.S. and Israel. Yet it has fired the majority of its projectiles at defenseless shipping from unrelated nations and neutral Arab countries around the region. These are — and continued to be — unjustified acts of war, naked aggression.

The sovereign state of Iran immediately resorted to the mewling tactics of a lowly terror group — like the network of terror groups it funds. Instead of playing by the rules everyone agrees to, Iran simply delights in sadistically inflicting maximum punishment on as many people as possible. Not only that, but Iran continues to violate the ceasefire while refusing to agree to reasonable terms.

The only conclusion to draw from this situation is that Iran is the “bad guy,” which every rational American already understood Iran to be.

Yet many leftists are not acting like Iran is the “bad guy.” The loud and omnipresent denunciations of Israel — heard for the past two years in every college, urban center, street protest, and even some political campaigns — are totally lacking. Yet, compared with Iran, Israel conducts wars with the care and gentleness of Mr. Rogers.

Where are the cries of genocide, of war crimes, of demands to use America’s full power to end the evil regime? They are not there. Does this mean there is a double standard for Israel? There seems to be no other explanation. And the word for such a double standard is “anti-Semitism.”

On Wednesday, House Democrats carried a resolution to force the president to end the Iran war, with support from four Republicans. The resolution perpetuates the charade of pretending that Iran is a normal state that plays by the rules, not one that lost every play in the war and still demands to be called the victor by cheating.

Yes, Iran is certainly the “bad guy.” Will we let the bad guy win?