A radical regime, whose mission is to "Export the Revolution" and bring Islamist rule to the rest of the world, will not alter its aims through policies of appeasement.
The appeasement policies of the Obama Administration empowered and emboldened Iran's ruling mullahs, and the Biden Administration seems determined to pursue the same path. Recall when, upon reaching the JCPOA "nuclear deal" with Iran in 2105, then US President Barack Obama pointed out that he was "confident" that the deal, with its lifting of sanctions on Iran, would "meet the national security needs of the United States and our allies"? It was even outlined in the JCPOA preamble that all parties "anticipate that full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security."
What was actually the result? The international community witnessed even more rockets launched by Yemen's Houthis at civilian targets, the deployment of Lebanese Hezbollah soldiers in Syria, and increasing attacks by the Iranian-funded Hamas on Israel. With billions of dollars of revenue pouring into the pockets of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Tehran did not change its behavior for the better. Instead, it became even more empowered and emboldened to pursue its revolutionary ideals of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.
Iran became, in fact, according to the US State Department, "the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism."
Worse, at the peak of these appeasement policies towards the mullahs, Iran's fundamentalist regime was emboldened to publicly harass the US Navy, detain US sailors and imprison American citizens. Khamenei has also repeatedly threatened "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!" and made incendiary remarks about wiping Israel from the face of earth "in less than 8 minutes."
Currently, thanks to the Biden Administration's appeasement where it would not matter and inaction where it would, the Iran's ruling mullahs are closer than ever to acquiring nuclear weapons. The Biden administration would do well to realize that a nuclear Iran is not just an existential threat to Israel; a nuclear Iran is major threat to the region, Europe, America, the world.
The regime has made its intentions clear. Especially now that it is aligned with Putin's Russia and the Chinese Communist Party, it would like to conquer the US.
As recently as November, Khamenei vowed, "Death to America will happen. In the new order I am talking about America will no longer have any important role."
The headline of a report by Iran's state-controlled Afkar News read (in Farsi): "American Soil Is Now Within the Range of Iranian Bombs". The report boasted about the damage that Iran could inflict, and claims that the Islamic Republic can use "a high-altitude electromagnetic bomb to attack the United States."
"The U.S. Congress' Electromagnetic Attack Commission has long warned that detonating just one nuclear bomb at high altitude [over the US] could take out the US power grid and, with it, all infrastructure. The report of March 28, 2017 of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in the US Senate also writes in a report to the 114th Congress: 'A successful attack with an electromagnetic nuclear bomb against the United States could cause the death of approximately 90% of the American population.'"
The report adds:
"By sending a military satellite into space, Iran now has shown that it can target all American territory; the Iranian parliament had previously warned [the US] that an electromagnetic nuclear attack on the United States would likely kill 90 percent of Americans..... If the industrialized nations of the world cannot devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic attacks, they will collapse within a few years... American soldiers will not be able to find food to eat or fire a shot."
American politicians shortsightedly fail to harden America's electric grid, probably because it will not show up as an accomplishment that donors will respond to, electorally or financially, during their election campaigns.
The European Union, which voted in favor of lifting the arms embargo against Iran, is also being threatened:
"The same type of ballistic missile technology used to launch the satellite could carry nuclear, chemical or even biological weapons to wipe Israel off the map, hit US bases and allies in the region and US facilities, and target NATO even in the far west of Europe...."
Tragically, through its appeasement policies and failure to take on the Free World's adversaries in a serious and credible way, the Biden Administration has been empowering at least one predatory regime that is determined to accomplish its mission of Jihad to rule the world at any cost; even if that requires wiping out other states. And now, thanks to the catastrophic policies of the Biden Administration -- suppressing US fossil fuel production, thereby enriching Russia so it could launch a war against Ukraine; and by snubbing America's historical ally, Saudi Arabia -- it has brought US national security to the brink.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
Jerry Ram