LOS ANGELES.–Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the U.S. has kept Iran at a distance, never punishing Iran for hijacking the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 54 U.S. hostages and holding them for 444 days before released Jan. 20, 1981, the day President Ronald Reagan was sworn in. Diplomatic relations officially ended with Iran after the Islamic Revolution that branded “death to America” and “death to Israel” as frequent slogans of the regime. U.S. diplomats kept an arm’s length, watching Iran turn into the terrorist-sponsoring state funding Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraq and Syria Ketaib Hezbollah militias. Now the U.S. finds Israel at war with Iran, largely because its terrorist proxies attacked the Jewish State because the U.S. didn’t deal directly with Iran’s activities for the last 45 years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 74, is forced to deal with Iran.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, slaughtering over 1,200 civilians, taking over 250 hostages, Iran’s Hamas terror group proved Iran’s Nazi-like intent to exterminating the Jewish state. What Hitler couldn’t finish in the Holocaust, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would like to continue, massacring Jews with whatever terror group Iran can support. Netanyahu finds himself in the implacable situation of dealing with Iran after 45 years of U.S. State Department neglect. Iran has fired hundreds of missiles at Israel in April and October, most of which were repelled by Israel’s Iron dome and other missile defense systems. But Netanyahu finds himself at war with Tehran, no longer pretending that he was dealing with only Iran’s proxy groups. After striking Iran’s missile factories and other military targets Oct. 26, a new war with Iran has begun.
President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris are no longer in charge of U.S. foreign policy and National Security. Biden has slammed Netanyahu for his ongoing war in Hamas and current war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, showing he has no clue what’s happening. For all intents-and-purposes, the U.S. has no one as commander-in-chief. Democrats and the press decided to let Biden stay on as titular president, while Kamala battled 78-year-old former President Donald Trump for the White House. Netanyahu finds himself in the unique position to going it on his own, defending Israel with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and now Iran. Ayatollah denied that Israel’s Oct. 26 strike had any significance, refusing the admit Israel hit all its targets damaging Iran’s missile-making capability. Netanyahu wanted Ayatollah to know the next strikes could hit Iran’s oil infrastructure and nuclear sites.
Ayatollah said today that Iran would respond again to Israel’s retaliatory strikes. “Zionists are making a miscalculation with respect to Iran. They don’t know Iran,” Khamenei said, promising more missile strikes in the near future. Whether or not that happens before the Nov. 5 presidential election isn’t known for sure. But what known with certainty is that Netanyahu won’t tolerate Iran’s aggression toward Israel, promising more deadly strikes in the future. “They haven’t been able to correctly understand the power, initiative and determination of the Iranian people. We need to make them understand these things,” Khamenei said, warning Israel about more attacks. Netanyahu wants to be clear that Israel will not tolerate Iran trying to develop its first A-bomb, knowing it could very well be dropped on Tel Aviv. Netanyahu, not the U.S., knows what’s at stake in the Mideast.
U.S. officials, led by 62-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 47-year-old Jake Sullivan, know that the U.S. hasn’t done enough to deter Iran, leaving Israel to fight U.S. battles. Netanyahu knows that if he doesn’t respond to Iran growing attacks, Iran will open up a new front for Israel, now embroiled in wars with Hamas and Hezbollah. U.S. diplomats Amos Hochstein and Mideast envoy Brett McGurk recently returned from Lebanon, unable to get a ceasefire deal done without Hezbollah approval. Hezbollah’s new 71-year-old Leader Naim Qassem said only Ayatollah Khamenei can decide what conditions to stop its rocket war against Israel. So, when it comes to Lebanon and Hezbollah, the orders come from Tehran, having no authority on their own. Netanyahu knows that only a direct confrontation with Iran can deal with current terrorist proxy attacks.
Iran faces some big choices continuing to attack Israel directly, not with it proxy terrorist groups. Every time Ayatollah strikes Israel, he will escalate more attacks directly from Israel on Iran’s oil infrastructure and nuclear industry. “Iran has already seen much of its infrastructure–when it comes to comes to domestic missile production or radars or IRGC command and control in Syria–go up in flames, said Defense of Democracies Fellow Behnam Ben Talebu. Talebu doesn’t think that Iran wants for tit-for-tat attacks with Israel directly because it’s bound to hit Iran hard in its oil and nuclear infrastructure. Ayatollah age, like Biden, affects his rational judgment, making it impossible for more practically minded Iranian politicians. With Ayatollah calling the shots, he could very well let Israel destroy vital Iranian infrastructure, weakening Iran’s war-making machine.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
