To put recent events in proper perspective, one must look at the years since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which brought the Shi’ite clerical regime to power after overthrowing the pro-Western, pro-Israel government of the Shah.
From the beginning, the goal of the ayatollahs has been the restoration of the historical Islamic Caliphate. After the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was formed, the most elite force in the IRGC—the Quds Force—was created as the tip of the spear. Al Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem. The long-term goal has been the destruction of the State of Israel, the re-establishment of the caliphate in Jerusalem, and the eventual spread of Islamic rule and Sharia law to the rest of the world. This recalls the Islamic conquests that started after the death of Muhammad, which spread throughout all of North Africa, into the Iberian Peninsula, up the Balkans and well into Asia until Islamic expansion was finally stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683.
In the last 46 years, the Islamic Regime’s established proxy groups—specifically, Hamas and Hezbollah—have been part of a plan to surround Israel and bleed it into submission. Syria and the Assad regime were also a key part of this, as well as the Shi’ite militias in Iraq. All these malign and terrorist entities were funded and trained by Iran.
Syria remained the gateway to Lebanon, which allowed Iran to transport and supply Hezbollah with weapons and missiles. Iran supported Hamas despite the Shi’ite-Sunni divide, as the explicit goal of Hamas has always been the destruction of Israel. The Israel Defense Forces uncovered very detailed plans of Iran’s ambitions in Gaza.
Iran has been, directly and indirectly, behind many of the violent terrorist acts carried out around the world, many of which have taken American and Jewish lives. Notable examples include the U.S. embassy bombing in Beirut in 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks bombing also in Beirut in 1983, the twin bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, east Africa, in 1998, and the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1992 and AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1994.
Whether or not Iran was close to possessing a nuclear weapon can be debated. However, the 1981 bombing of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear plant in Iraq and the 2007 bombing of President Bashar Assad’s nuclear plant in Syria provide precedents for the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities last week. All three attacks were intended to stop those countries from developing nuclear weapons. It is, however, beyond debate to say Iran’s weaponization program was significantly more advanced than anything Iraq or Syria was able to do.
Former President Barack Obama entered the United States and Europe into the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. In exchange for Iran agreeing to suspend enrichment for 15 years, Obama released billions of dollars of frozen Iranian cash, which the Islamic regime used to finance Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as well as support other malign terrorist actions throughout the West. Iran’s intent to weaponize its enriched uranium was fully disclosed to the world by the Mossad’s brazen theft of Iran’s nuclear files from a warehouse in Tehran in 2018, while Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA that same year.
The JCPOA had a 15-year sunset clause, which would have allowed Iran to openly return to uranium enrichment in 2030, just five years from now. If one believes the reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran was conducting secret enrichment in violation of the deal.
Most of the world, either publicly or privately, supports the recent actions taken by Israel and the United States. The European Union came out in support of the U.S. bombing and Israel’s campaign, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stating, “Israel is doing the dirty work for the world,” and Keir Starmer, prime minister of the United Kingdom, issued a strong statement of support.
In the United States, the Democrats’ assertion that Trump took unilateral action without consulting Congress and in violation of the U.S. Constitution conveniently ignores that Obama ordered the dropping of more than 26,000 bombs during his administration without congressional approval. It also ignores the fact that Iran, for all intents and purposes, declared war on the United States in 1979 and has prosecuted that war ever since.
For students of war and geopolitics, this is a fascinating time that will be written and rewritten into the history books in the coming years. For the rest of us, particularly Jewish Americans, we can only wait, watch, and give our moral and financial support to Israel.