Not a Forever War, A Necessary Reckoning

The Islamic Republic of Iran, under the despotic rule of its theocratic mullahs, stands as a malignant force against the United States, Israel, and the free world. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, this regime has pursued a relentless campaign of terrorism, oppression, and destabilization, cloaked in religious zeal but driven by an insatiable lust for power and control. Its actions—through proxy terrorist organizations, internal atrocities, dangerous alliances with authoritarian states, and a now-crippled nuclear ambition—mark it as a clear and present danger to global freedom.Ridding the world of this theocratic cancer is not another “forever war,” as some in a small faction of the MAGA movement suggest, but a necessary confrontation with a declared enemy, one whose extinction would unshackle tens of millions, stabilize the Middle East, and bolster global security.The mullahs’ regime has orchestrated a shadow war against the United States and its allies through a sprawling web of proxy terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and various Iraqi militias like Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al Haq. The US State Department has designated Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism since 1984, a title earned through decades of bloodshed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), particularly its elite Quds Force, serves as the architect of this terror network, arming, training, and funding groups that have killed and maimed American servicemen and civilians alike. Since 2003, Iran-backed militias in Iraq have launched over 6,000 attacks on US and coalition forces, using sophisticated explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) that killed hundreds of American service members and wounded thousands more.Beyond military targets, Iran’s proxies have struck civilians with ruthless abandon. Hezbollah, bankrolled by Iran to the tune of $700 million annually, has a grim resume: the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 241 US Marines, the 1983 US Embassy bombing in Beirut that killed 63, and the 1994 Buenos Aires Jewish community center attack that killed 85.Hamas, another Iranian client, has used Tehran’s weapons and funding to wage war on Israeli civilians, with its October 7, 2023, attack killing over 1,200 and taking hundreds hostage, including women and children, some infants.The Houthis, armed with Iranian drones and ballistic missiles, have disrupted global shipping in the Red Sea, endangering civilian mariners and threatening global trade routes critical to economic stability.These are not isolated incidents but a calculated strategy to destabilize the West and its allies, with Iran’s mullahs pulling the strings from Tehran.And while exporting terror abroad, the mullahs inflict unspeakable cruelty on their own people. The Persian-Iranian populace, heirs to a rich and ancient civilization, languishes under a regime that prioritizes ideological purity over human dignity.Since 1979, the Islamic Republic has executed thousands of dissidents, political prisoners, and religious minorities, often in public hangings and at secret torture chambers run by the Ministry of Intelligence. The 2019 protests, sparked by economic hardship and demands for freedom, saw the regime kill over 1,000 protesters, injure thousands, and shut down the internet to conceal its brutality.Women in Iran face systemic oppression under draconian laws, with morality police enforcing mandatory hijab rules. Mahsa Amini’s 2022 death in custody for “improper hijab” sparked nationwide protests, met with tear gas, bullets, and mass arrests.Religious minorities, including Baha’is, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Sunni Muslims, face relentless persecution, imprisonment, and forced conversions. And the regime’s economic mismanagement, diverting billions to its terror proxies while Iranians face 40% inflation and widespread unemployment, has fueled a generation’s struggle for democracy that the mullahs have, to date, crushed with an iron fist.Iran’s budding affiliations with communist China, Russia, and North Korea amplify its threat to global freedom, forming an axis of brutal authoritarianism united by a shared contempt for democratic values.Iran has supplied Russia with thousands of Shahed drones for its war in Ukraine, confirming its role as a military enabler of Moscow’s aggression. China, Iran’s largest oil buyer, provides economic lifelines that sustain the regime despite Western sanctions, while North Korea collaborates on missile technology, bolstering Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, which can now reach as far as Europe.But today, Iran’s quest for nuclear capability and its ballistic missile program have been severely crippled by sustained international pressure, including Israeli airstrikes on key facilities like Natanz and Fordow. Reports indicate Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, fearing for his safety amid these setbacks, is cowering in a bunker, ceding ...