Ignore No More: Iran's Regime Is Too Bad To Succeed

The Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of Israel by some 6,000 Hamas gunmen has changed America's political conversation in multiple respects. Who knew, for example, that there actually exists a pro-slaughter constituency on the far left and college campuses, at least when it comes to Jews, spawning chants by professed progressives of "We are Hamas! We are Hezbollah!"? Who imagined that, as a recent House Committee investigative report demonstrated, Harvard University officials who consider themselves moralists would email each other rejecting the use of the word "violent" to describe the Oct. 7 butchering of 1,200 Israelis at a dance festival or in their beds, lest use of the word suggest they were ascribing blame for the butchering?

After operating without much scrutiny in America for some time now, Iran's regime and the threat it poses to the U.S. and U.S. interests have emerged as a subject of discourse, only partially because of Iran's attempt to eradicate Israel by proxies that it funds, arms and controls. Just as critics of the Obama administration's Iran deal predicted, Iran, flush with tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief, is the puppeteer and financier of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. The first two have between them murdered hundreds of Americans, and the Houthis have repeatedly attacked American assets. Since Oct. 7, thanks to Iranian largesse, they have turned the Mideast into an inferno.

Iran itself has twice launched waves of hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, and presently is poised to launch a much larger, much deadlier wave of missiles. As they race to acquire nuclear weapons that will position them to threaten to incinerate their perceived adversaries, Iran's mullahs, a jihadist, totalitarian and openly genocidal bunch, have placed the world on high alert, bracing itself for more death and destruction than they have already caused.

But it is not "only" the Mideast where Iran has caused that death and destruction, and where it threatens to cause more. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022 for the purpose of subjugating more of Ukraine than it already had, its military has pulverized Ukrainian civilians, murdering tens of thousands of them and murdering more each week. As its weapons have been depleted, Moscow has turned to Iran for reinforcements so that it can conquer Ukraine and threaten Eastern Europe beyond. Our Department of Defense assesses that Iran has provided Russia with ever-increasing quantities of ballistic missiles and hundreds of attack drones for use against Ukraine. Iran has joined North Korea in bolstering Russia's brutal Ukrainian campaign, and its alliance with Vladimir Putin has become more and more concerning.

Iran's new president met with Putin on Oct. 11, and its state media reports that the Russian-Iranian partnership is accelerating. "Iran and Russia boast complementary capacities and can greatly support each other," it recently stated, adding that the two governments are embarking on a "strategic partnership agreement." Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has confirmed this. "The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared," he said last week, "will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations."

Those on America's far left who have dismissed critics of Iran as "war hawks" and "neo-cons" find themselves in league with a regime that isn't merely the world's foremost state sponsor of terror, but one of the world's most egregious human rights violators. The Iranian government is a poster child for terrorizing women and the LGBTQ community, for arbitrary detentions, repression of dissent and extrajudicial killings, and for the kidnapping and torture of dissidents. Its rulers have executed over 8,200 people since 2010. "Clearly," says Anne Ramberg, co-chair of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute, "the death penalty is being used as a tool of repression to create fear and to attempt to silence protesters."

Those who think we can kick the Iranian problem down the road are mistaken. Those who think that Iran is a "neo-con" issue are deluded. The next administration is going to have to address a real Iranian threat, and to be clear-eyed and ready to make difficult choices.

Jeff Robbins' latest book, "Notes From the Brink: A Collection of Columns about Policy at Home and Abroad," is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and Google Play. Robbins, a former assistant United States attorney and United States delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, was chief counsel for the minority of the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. An attorney specializing in the First Amendment, he is a longtime columnist for the Boston Herald, writing on politics, national security, human rights and the Mideast.