LOS ANGELES.–Showing that the so-called full-scale war with Israel has begun, Iran’s Iraq-and-Syria-based Ketaib Hezbollah militia struck the port city of Haifa with drones today, causing minimal damage because of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, killing over 1,200, taking another 250 hostages, Iran has been a rampage sicking its terror groups on Israel, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and now Ketaib Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria. Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei pretends that the “named” militias are not part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] creating mayhem in the Middle East and Horn of Africa. Iran’s Houthi rebels have destroyed commercial shipping in the Red Sea, attacking ships on the phony premise that Israel was at war with Hamas, a key ally of Iran.
Sending U.S. warships and more recently B-52 Stratofortress bombers, to the Middle East, the Pentagon hopes to deter Iran from attacking Israel but it clearly isn’t working because the Ayatollah gave orders for his henchmen to attack Israel. Israel now faces ongoing attacks from Iran, with the U.S. doing nothing to stop the Ayatollah from the causing the mayhem in the Middle East and Horn of Africa. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not have the resources necessary to fighting multiple front wars for indefinite future. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has been emphatic urging 81-year-old President Joe Biden and his national security team to strike Iran’s oil and nuclear facilities. Ayatollah Khamenei calls the U.S. the great Satan, looking to harm the U.S. and its key ally Israel anyway possible since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended U.S. diplomatic relations.
With Biden on the sidelines without a real commander-in-chief, it’s difficult to take action on Iran, something long overdue. Since Iranian radicals hijacked the U.S. embassy in 1979, taking 54 hostages for 444 days, the U.S. has had no coherent response to Iran for all its malign activities against the U.S and its allies. When you consider that Ayatollah Khamenei controls multiple proxy armies, all under Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, that have been attackomg the U.S. and its allies since 1979, you’d think that generations of presidents, starting with Jimmy Carter, would have taken some action against Iran. Now that Iran runs amok in the Mideast and Horn of Africa, the U.S. no longer has the luxury of inaction. But because of Biden’s inability as commander-in-chief, it’s left with the next president to deal with Iran, a country that now joins the Russian-controlled BRICS economic bloc.
Dealing with the Ayatollah is long overdue especially now that he’s all in on his war with Israel over Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran has lost a lot of prestige with Israel dismantling Hamas and Hezbollah, two of the Ayatollah most powerful terror groups, now left in shambles. Khamenei blustered he would strike Israel with bigger war heads, calling his next missiles strikes a “crushing blow.” Sending 100 U.S. troops to operate the THAAD missile defense system in Israel should send a message to the Ayatollah but so far nothing has gotten through. Ayatollah has gone all out in ordering his surrogate armies to attack Israel anyway possible. Time has come for the U.S., as urged by Graham and others, to take decisive action against Tehran. Ayatollah knows that when Israel strikes they hit their targets, this time Oct. 26 with Iran’s missile-making facilities near Tehran.
Hitting Israel with its Iraq and Syria-based Ketaib Hezbollah militia shows how the Ayatollah won’t stop until the U.S., not Israel, hits Iran’s oil infrastructure and nuclear enrichment facilities. Generations of U.S. foreign policy since president since Jimmy Carter have been committed to preventing Iran from building a nuclear bomb. With Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities going unchecked, the U.S. has no choice, once new leadership is in place, to tell the Ayatollah he can no longer attack Israel without consequences. U.S. Centom confirmed Nov. 3 that it sent B-52 bombers to the Mediterranean with the intent of stopping the Ayatollah from continuing his war against Israel. Israel didn’t start the war with Hamas but Netanyahu is committed to finishing the war, preventing Hamas from playing any role in Gaza’s eventual reconstruction.
Sending Ketaib Hezbollah drones to strike Haifa Nov. 4, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threw down the gauntlet daring the U.S. to strike Iran more forcefully. Ayatollah likes to threaten the U.S. and Israel but knows that he largely bluffing. Like his 10-year-war with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, Iran showed there’s nothing overwhelming about Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. Saddam was taken out by the U.S. is three weeks, something the U.S. if pushed could do in Iran. Israel needs the U.S. to step up and play a more active role to dealing with Iran, something badly overdue. If the U.S. strikes Iran’s oil facilities, the Ayatollah will be forced to call back the dogs, whether from Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. Without the U.S. intervening directly, the Ayatollah will continue to order his proxy armies to continue striking Israel and U.S. targets in the Mideast and Horn of Africa.
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.
