The Merits of the United States Targeting Iran

Unless Iran Changes, The ‘Great Satan’ Should Give Them Hell

The time has come for the United States to strongly contemplate launching a devastating surprise attack against Iranian military assets. The Islamic Republic has destabilized the Middle East, stymied world trade by using proxies to fire on shipping lanes, hit American troops in the region, bolstered Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and deployed proxies to potentially widen the Israeli/Hamas war into a regional conflagration.

If Iran is capable of creating global havoc and instability without nuclear weapons, imagine the mayhem it would unleash with nukes? We already have the intractable problem of North Korea holding the world hostage to its crazy demands. The last thing we need is a messianic End Times Shiite cult screaming “Death to America, Death to Israel” with the means to do so.

The Iran nuclear question has been downplayed because the world is rife with multiple crises. However, with efforts to enact a nuclear deal stalled, international inspectors conclude that Iran has “initiated a threefold increase in its enrichment of near-bomb-grade uranium.” These experts believe that Iran now has the fuel for at least three atomic weapons.

France’s U.N. ambassador, Nicolas de Rivière, told The New York Times that Iran could rapidly transform their nuclear fuel into bomb grade material in “a couple of weeks or so.”  Although, it’s important to note that loading the fuel into an actionable weapon could take a year or so. (If we aren’t miscalculating Iran’s progress)

When I suggest the United States should attack Iranian military assets, I don’t write these words lightly, such as when the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) flippantly sang in 2007: "That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran." It’s far preferable for Iran to return to the negotiating table, abandon terrorism and refrain from its menacing ways. Unfortunately, the Islamic Republic offers no signs of transforming its aggressive behavior.

Iran’s militia proxies in Iraq have launched at least 118 attacks against American troops since Oct. 17. These potentially deadly strikes include rockets and one-way attack drones.  One assault left an American soldier in critical condition.  In 2020, an Iranian missile barrage against U.S. forces caused 109 troops to suffer traumatic brain injuries. Additional troops in 2023 received brain injuries following attacks by Iran-backed militias in Syria.

The United States must reestablish credible deterrence by demanding Iran and its terrorist satellites cease and desist from firing on U.S. troops or face massive retaliation. Iran has also imperiled its neighbors, using proxies to launch drone strikes against Saudi Arabian oil facilities in 2019, helping lead to an arms race in the Middle East.

Currently, the Houthis, Iran’s terrorist puppets in Yemen, have disrupted global trade. Philip Damas, Managing Director and Head of Supply Chain Advisors at Drewry Shipping, said the Houthis actions are severely disrupting supply chains by, “forcing ships to sail thousands of miles further than normal and are therefore restricting the amount of vessels able to carry goods.”

Higher prices resulting from shipping delays could impact key 2024 elections in the United States and Europe, providing an advantage to dangerous authoritarian demagogues, such as Donald Trump. We shouldn’t stand for it.

Iran’s Lebanese Frankenstein, Hezbollah, has 150,000 rockets aimed at Israel, which led Israel to largely evacuate its northern border. Israel has demanded Hezbollah remove its border forces or risk a wider, and potentially catastrophic war.

Finally, Iran is hindering NATOs efforts to help Ukraine heroically beat back Russia’s barbaric invasion. The Islamic Republic has supplied Russia with hundreds of deadly drones, as well as assisted Russia’s program to build a drone factory. The Wall Street Journal reports that Iran will also supply Russia with ballistic missiles.

The most convincing argument against targeting Iran has been that its young, restive population would overthrow the government’s oppressive mullahs. However, the religious tyrants used extreme violence to silence dissidents and prevent a changing of the guard. Reuters reported in 2023:

Iran's hanging of protesters -- and display of their lifeless bodies suspended from cranes -- seems to have instilled enough fear to keep people off the streets after months of anti-government unrest.

The success of the crackdown on the worst political turmoil in years is likely to reinforce a view among Iran's hardline rulers that suppression of dissent is the way to keep power.

If the United States pursued regime change in Iran, it would be doing the terrorized Iranian population a huge favor. Iran will never be a normal, prosperous country if deranged, religious zealots are in charge.

Unlike the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney fiasco in Iraq, the United States could likely accomplish many of its objectives without a significant number of boots on the ground, other than forays by special forces. Massive gravity bombs, and sundry bunker busters, could target nuclear research facilities. This effort would be enhanced by launching cyber worms to disrupt Iranian nuclear technology.

The U.S. could use the opportunity to eliminate drone factories that supply Russia, badly setting back Moscow’s nefarious efforts. Corporations that fund Iran’s despotic Revolutionary Guard should be targeted, and military bases hit particularly hard. Police stations tied to the morality police, which torture and suppress the civilian population, should also be on the target list -- while great care must be given to avoid unnecessary civilian causalities.

I suspect President Biden has so-far refrained from acting due to a worldwide shortage of missiles and missile defense options. The West has enormous, pent-up demand for new armaments yet lacks the industrial capacity to build sufficient arsenals to protect democracies against a rising tide of autocracy. No doubt, President Biden is apprehensive about expending hundreds or thousands of missiles against Iran, that it would be incapable of quickly replenishing to challenge Russia or fend off a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Still, the world would be significantly safer and saner with a weakened or decapitated Iran. The Islamic Republic has it coming, and it has earned a military response commensurate with its bad behavior.

An attack against Iran is neither desirable nor something we should seek. However, indefinitely kicking the can down the road isn’t necessarily a path to peace. It’s time to give Iran a Godfather offer – one they can’t refuse. They must stop targeting Americans, abandon terrorist proxies, forsake their nuclear weapons program and rejoin the civilized world – or suffer the consequences. The current geopolitical situation is untenable and its sending the wrong message to other bad actors.   

We’ve put up with the madness of Iran’s mullahs for 44 years – enough is enough. They regularly insult the United States as “The Great Satan” and vow to destroy us. So, if they insist on their current path, it’s time we finally give them Hell.

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