Two weeks ago, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in less than an hour. All 10 million Israelis were ordered into bomb shelters.
Despite the White House’s dire warning to Iran of painful consequences if it attacked Israel, the United States has done nothing. Indeed, Iran and its terrorist proxies have attacked U.S. interests and allies numerous times in recent years with no serious pushback from team Biden-Harris.
Shamefully, the West’s response to the Iranian threat has mostly been one of appeasement—and, of course, relentless pressure on Israel to stop killing Iranian terrorists or their proxies. The U.S. administration’s only reaction to Iran’s massive attack was to again warn Israeli leaders to restrain their response, especially avoiding Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Unfortunately, Iran’s belligerence is not just a threat to Israel and the West’s other allies in the Middle East but to the West itself. Led by genocidal theocrats, Iran seeks total hegemony over the region and, ultimately, conquest of Western civilization under a global Islamic caliphate. Iran is now closer than ever to the nuclear threshold, and its terrorist proxies have never been bolder and better funded.
Yet the Biden-Harris administration utterly disregards Iran’s huge and growing threat. The West’s soft-diplomacy approach to Iran is based on its naive belief that negotiations can solve everything. Strangely, the administration continues to pursue this strategy despite zero diplomatic successes in the Middle East … and many costly failures.
It’s time for the United States to learn the lesson that Israel tragically has. Pampering the mullahs and their terrorist proxies doesn’t work. The Islamists are single-minded and determined. With the rewards they’ve reaped from negotiations, they invest in more aggression. A smarter strategy is to stop coddling the jihadis and start convincing them—using relentless military pressure—that the West will no longer tolerate their quest for Middle East hegemony and Islamic supremacy.
Iran’s attacks on U.S. and Western interests in the Middle East are bolder and costlier than ever. After Oct. 7, Iran’s proxies accelerated their attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East—429 attacks on U.S. troops, with 183 U.S. servicemembers injured and three killed.
Even before Oct. 7, the Houthis in Yemen were attacking U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with drones and missiles. After Oct. 7, the Houthis began targeting international shipping, making shipping costs and insurance premiums skyrocket and endangering ships’ crews.
But no one has suffered more from attacks by Iran and its proxies than Israel. As if the atrocities of Oct. 7 weren’t bad enough, Israel is now fighting a multi-front war against all of Iran’s proxies and Iran itself. Ultimately, Iran and its proxies want to do to the West what they’re doing to Israel.
Iran poses a grave danger to the West itself. Not only is Iran on the threshold of becoming a nuclear power, but it also has approximately 3,000 ballistic missiles, some of which can carry nuclear warheads and reach NATO countries in Eastern Europe. Iran also assists other belligerents. For example, the mullahs provide Russia with drones and missiles to use in its conquest of Ukraine.
Iran has attacked the West on its own soil using cyberwarfare, targeting American financial institutions, airlines, defense firms and even the U.S. government itself. In 2013, Iranian operatives succeeded in gaining control over the floodgates of a dam in New York. Indeed, by 2021, U.S. intelligence concluded Iran could launch effective attacks against critical U.S. infrastructure.
Most recently, Iran has attempted to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election, stealing and leaking files from former President Donald Trump’s current campaign. NBC called this attack “the largest ‘hack and leak’ election influence operation since Russia’s breach of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Democratic organizations in 2016.”
Iran faces no serious consequences for its actions. At most, the West launches limited military actions against Iran’s proxies, such as bombing the Houthis in Yemen. The previous U.S. administration assassinated Qassem Soleimani in 2020, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds force. In general, though, the West has refrained from attacking Iran where it would really hurt—its nuclear facilities, military bases and oil installations.
To stop Iran’s belligerence, the West chooses to apply soft diplomacy, which has failed. U.S. President Joe Biden’s attempt to renegotiate the nuclear deal was unsuccessful. Iran is closer than ever to obtaining nuclear weapons and can now produce enough material for five atomic bombs within a week.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have also strengthened Iran by giving it as much as $50 billion in sanctions relief—money the mullahs used to fund its proxies. The culmination of this soft diplomacy? The Oct. 7 massacre, 8,000 Hezbollah missiles shot at Israel, and the Houthis paralyzing global shipping.
Even after Oct. 7, the West still clings to diplomacy in response to Iran’s aggression. Biden, Harris and other Western leaders have relentlessly pressured Israel to agree to ceasefires with Hamas and Hezbollah, which would leave Hamas in power in Gaza, not free all the hostages and not allow 60,000 residents of northern Israel to safely return home. Even worse, the West now wants Israel to refrain from retaliating “too harshly” against Iran for its recent missile attack.
Simultaneously, the West punishes Israel with arms embargos and puts unreasonable conditions on Israel’s war effort, blaming the Israeli military for causing too many civilian casualties, even though the Israel Defense Forces takes more measures to protect civilians than any Western military.
Israel’s strategy of meeting force with force succeeds in crippling Islamic terrorists, but will the West adopt it? Recent actions taken by Israel—shrewdly using relentless military force—have decimated the leadership hierarchies of Hamas and Hezbollah, and destroyed much of the groups’ terrorist infrastructure. None of this could have been achieved by playing nice with Iran, as the West has attempted endlessly. But will the West even allow Israel to continue winning?
The West must abandon its failed soft diplomacy. It’s time for results against our sworn enemies. No more appeasement, no more sanctions relief, and no more empty threats. Instead, follow Israel’s example. Punish Iran and its proxies with devastating military power. Persuade the mullahs that their attempts to terrorize Israelis, attack American interests and conquer the Middle East will not be allowed.
Originally published by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).