The Islamic regime in Iran has been a thorn in the side of the civilised world for decades. It has sponsored and supported terrorist groups across the Middle East and beyond. The groups that Iran funds have done their bit to destabilise countries such as Lebanon and Syria and even in places like Britain there are lots of Iranians who have migrated to Britain but have not put aside their loyalty to the Iranian regime but instead are supporters of it, something that could cause potential problems in the future. The Iranian people have been kept in a state of absolute oppression and terror since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
The Islamic government of Iran has also been a problem for successive US administrations from President Carter’s day onwards, with the Iranian government sponsoring attacks on US service personnel and interests. The Iranian government is also trying to acquire nuclear weapons and the thought of this bunch of Islamic religious crazies doing so quite rightly is something that scares the hell out of a lot of people. Various US administrations have tried to deal with Iran’s government via diplomatic routes or, as in the case of the Obama government, giving cash and concessions to the Iranians in the hope that they will be less dangerous. These approaches, although in some cases laudable attempts to create peace with the religious insanity of Iran’s government, have failed.
However President Donald Trump is different, he’s not ignored the constant poking of the USA by Iran with terror attacks and attacks by mobs on US embassies, he’s decided to play hardball and engage in a policy of targeted assassination against senior regime figures. This is probably a sensible route to go down as it only affects the Iranian government and not the Iranian people who are suffering terribly from the depredations of the Tehran government and whose revolt against the theocracy needs to be supported.
Unlike President Obama, who shamefully turned his back on Iranians fighting to rid themselves of their theocratic government, President Trump must understand that there is little chance of this revolt against the Mullahs happening unless the leadership of the regime is dealt with or at least weakened. The killing of Major General Qassem Soleimani recently did not come out of the blue but after constant and consistent provocations of the USA by the Iranian government. It’s obvious from the increasing threatening rhetoric coming out of Tehran that this killing of a man so intricately linked to terror groups across the world, has disturbed the Iranian government. President Trump has responded to these threats of attacks on US interests by telling the Iranians that the US has a list of similar targets that will be hit ‘hard and fast’ should Iran carry out their threats.
President Trump’s actions are what was needed to push back against the Iranian government and its proxy terror groups. Iran cannot be allowed to get away with killing Americans or attacking American interests with impunity, they should pay for the damage that they’ve done and targeted assassinations like that of Soleimani may be the way to hurt the Iranian theocratic regime whilst not harming ordinary Iranians.
Whilst like many I worry that the targetted attacks may end up with the West being dragged into another Islamic quagmire like Iraq, this may be less of a worry when it comes to Iran. The Iranian regime, unlike that of Iraq’s Saddam Hussain, is not ruling over a cowed population, frightened to rebel, but instead a populace that plainly desires change and has suffered greatly for supporting change. Despite the bluster coming out of Tehran, the Iranian government is much weaker than was the Iraqi government prior to the Allied invasion in 2003. A concerted push against the Iranian regime may be all that is needed to give the Iranian people the opportunity it needs to put the Ayatollahs into the dustbin of history.
President Trump’s policy is not without danger. There could be the possiblity that sleeper cells of Iranian agents cause havoc in both the USA and in other Western nations such as that of the United Kingdom. It’s also possible that this intervention could cause regional instability but this and other potential problems are worth risking to help to remove an Iranian government that has been a danger to the world for decades.
A good assessment of the situation.
Thank you.
An excellent analysis. I cannot find anything with which I disagree. My main concern is that Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas and the PA/PLO decide to attack Israel despite the fact that Israel had nothing to do with this, just an excuse to kill Jews. My other worry is that Pakistan supplies Iran with a nuclear weapon for the latter to use against Israel. There are none of the usual restraints when it comes to the Ayatollahs, no death toll to high, it’s an article of faith: That when the Jews are destroyed by fire, the Hidden Imam will reveal himself and Islam will rule the world”, check it out.
Thank you. I think that it is almost a certainty that Iran’s proxies will go after Israel at some point, after all, with these savages, whether they be Sunni or Shia, killing Jews is the number one priority. The Pakistan situation is indeed a worry for the West and for Israel but is an even more immediate problem for India, which is Pakistan’s primary target for WMD. I don’t believe from what I’ve read recently that we are at the situation yet where Pk will supply nukes to Iran and hopefully such potential transfers are uppermost in the minds of Western leaders. I agree that all bets are off when it comes to doomsday cults such as that which runs Iran and paradoxically we were probably safer from nuclear destruction during the Cold War than at present. At least the Soviets, for all their faults, were relatively sane and wanted to avoid mutually assured destruction, this is something that cannot be said about the Islamic world.