The story: Amid the prospect of a major escalation of regional missile warfare, Iraq has inked a major deal with South Korea on a state of the art air defense system. Although Baghdad has sought such hardware for years, current tensions have apparently pushed Iraqi authorities to expedite the agreement. Against this backdrop, observers have raised questions over precisely which regional actors the new system is intended to defend against—or deter. 

The coverage: Reports citing military analysts suggest that Iraqi authorities initially approached France, the UK and the...