US Senator Lindsey Graham has already recommended warning the regime in Iran that if it or its proxies enter the war against Israel -- started by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hamas -- THE U.S. WILL TAKE OUT IRAN'S OIL REFINERIES.
Most urgently, the ban on Iran's ability to use missiles expires in a few days. Iran will be able to send missiles to the Middle East to launch at Israel and the Gulf States, and to Russia to launch inside Ukraine.
The Iranian regime, in turn, has warned the West that if Israel starts a ground offensive in Gaza, another of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Hezbollah in Lebanon, will create an "earthquake." The warning itself shows that the Iranian regime is "directly" implicated in the war.
A REMINDER TO DETER FURTHER ESCALATION; A WARNING TO THE MULLAHS:
- If even one hostage is harmed, and
- If all the hostages are not released – all of them, not just the America's – inside 72 hours (a time limit is critical), and
- If Iran enters the war either by itself or through one of its other proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, then
THE U.S. WILL TAKE OUT THEIR OIL REFINERIES.
The idea that there is no "direct evidence" that Iran is responsible for "this war" is ludicrous. Without Iran's weapons, cash and planning, Hamas would not have been able to use its proxies precisely to claim "plausible deniability," as the mullahs puppeteer their aggression from Tehran, while they sit back and watch everyone else pick one another off.
Sadly, the Biden administration appears to be twisting into superhuman contortions pretending to believe that Iran was not implicated in "this attack", supposedly to avoid an escalation. It is this avoidance that will actually bring on the full-scale war, just as it did in Ukraine.
Perhaps those three warnings to the mullahs, rather than escalate aggression, will bring their aggression to a stop. Threatening to destroy Iran's oil infrastructure is a message that might save countless lives and at least put a stop to Iran's expansion.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
Steven