Time and time again, our leaders make the same mistakes.
History should have taught them a long time ago that appeasement emboldens dictators. The only way to be safe is to arm ourselves properly and respond to aggression with fearless bravery.
Iran has felt emboldened to launch this ferocious attack for one key reason: the West has been trying for years to placate their hateful mullahs, instead of making it clear that their evil actions will have serious consequences.
In recent weeks, too late, President Biden has declared that Washington’s commitment to Israel is “rigid.”
People carrying Iranian flags gather in Tehran today for a demonstration in support of Iran’s attack on Israel.
Fortunately, this was demonstrated in the early hours of this morning, when the United States – together with the United Kingdom and, fundamentally, Jordan – shot down Iranian drones and missiles that were heading towards Israel.
But if only Biden’s resolve had been as “iron-clad” when he entered the Oval Office three years ago.
Instead, he has spent his term pursuing a misguided, dangerous and hopelessly naïve approach toward Iran’s bearded theocrats.
If I can briefly summarize what happened: In May 2018, President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal that his predecessor Barack Obama had negotiated in 2015 (the vice president then, of course, was Joe Biden).
Under that agreement, sanctions on Tehran were lifted in the hope that the mullahs would keep their “pledge” not to pursue a nuclear weapons program.
Obama’s approach was complete madness. The mullahs’ coffers were soon filled by the lifting of sanctions and – just as opponents of their deal had warned – Iran was once again eagerly funding and training its bloodthirsty groups, from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas in Loop.
Meanwhile, experts warned that its supposedly “civilian” nuclear program was actually a weapons project in disguise.
Trump rightly tore up Obama’s deal, facing hysterical objections from co-signatories Britain, France and Germany. But Donald’s approach worked.
Trump’s sanctions shrank Iran’s economy by 4.8 percent in 2018 and 9.5 percent in 2019, diminishing the broader threat to the Middle East.
But after Biden took office in 2021, he resumed talks about a renewed agreement. And although the sanctions have not been formally lifted, their enforcement has been weakened, sending an implicit message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that the United States was no longer serious about imposing them.
Since then, Iran has vastly expanded its oil exports, largely to China, just as it has escalated its malign behavior in Gaza, Lebanon, and now from its own soil.
We need to learn some lessons here. When Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement in 1938, Hitler felt empowered to invade Poland.
When Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, the West stood back and watched, prompting him to launch a full invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
And now Israel has been attacked on its own soil once again after Biden undid Trump’s good work standing up to the crazy mullahs.
The world is becoming too dangerous for us to continue repeating this mistake.