America Must Support Israel by Deterring Iran
The Biden Administration’s stubborn, nonsensical refusal to acknowledge the Iranian regime’s responsibility for the attacks on Israel continues to put our ally and America at great risk. While I am confident that Israel will do what it must in Gaza and eliminate Hamas, this Administration’s continued appeasement of Iran will only lead to further destabilization, war, and terror in the region.
This week, President Biden traveled to Israel to show visible support for the Jewish nation-state. Unfortunately, as has been the case so often in this Administration, the President’s trip showcased form over function. Besides a photo op, the trip achieved little – except delaying Israel’s offensive into Gaza. And the President did not mention Iran.
What should concern every American is what did not happen this week: As President Biden stepped off the plane in Israel on Wednesday, U.N. sanctions hindering Iran’s capability to purchase and supply missiles expired. The Biden Administration could have ensured these sanctions were extended, either through triggering snapback sanctions via the original 2016 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or by rallying our allies in Europe to do the same. Instead, the Administration allowed them to expire at the same time President Biden posed for a photo op pledging support for Israel in its fight to defend itself.
Biden officials have claimed they can discourage Iran’s malign activities without the sanctions, stating they have “pretty credibly . . . held the Iranian regime accountable for its malign and destabilizing activities.” Seriously? Team Biden’s track record on Iran is anything but credible, as evidenced by its failure to simply enforce existing oil sanctions. At the end of the Trump Administration’s tenure, Iran was exporting roughly 400,000 barrels of oil a day. On the Biden Administration’s watch, that number has ballooned to over 2 million. Allowing further sanctions to be lifted on top of those which the Biden Administration has already failed to enforce ensures the regime in Tehran has even greater wealth to continue arming its proxies. This makes the threat of a broader war in the Middle East more likely, especially as Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy to the north of Israel, has yet to enter the fight.
President Biden could begin to correct these mistakes by confirming Iran’s role in the barbaric Hamas attacks on October 7, but blind appeasement continues to win out over common sense. This Administration simply refuses to implicate Iran’s direct, malign influence. Biden officials have repeatedly, absurdly claimed that there is no evidence linking Iran to the attacks, despite recent reports revealing this very truth. In fact, there is evidence suggesting their cooperation with Hamas intensified in August – the same month the Biden Administration announced it had reached a $6 billion ransom payment deal with Iran. Still more reports have claimed that these attacks were based on plans first developed by Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general that the Trump Administration eliminated. It is willful blindness for the Biden Administration to continue to assert they have no evidence of Iran’s involvement, particularly when it is well known that they finance Hamas with millions of dollars.
Appeasement of Iran across the Obama and Biden Administrations has not merely been the result of bad policy, though. America’s policy towards Iran in the Obama and Biden years was greatly influenced by an Iranian-directed foreign influence campaign, the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI). IEI has cultivated influence over key American policymakers over the past decade, including Robert Malley – President Biden’s Special Envoy for Iran – who was placed on unpaid leave for a still-undisclosed security violation. Malley ran the International Crisis Group outside of government, at which he employed multiple IEI members. One of these individuals even followed him to the State Department under President Biden and continues to be employed at the Department of Defense. These serious revelations indicate that the Biden Administration is being influenced by the Iranian regime even as the Ayatollah seeks to kill Americans on American soil. No official with ties to Iran should be serving in a sensitive security role – that’s why this week, I joined other former senior government officials in calling for President Biden to revoke the clearances of any individuals with such ties.
During my time as Secretary of State, we met the Iranian threat with maximum pressure, not appeasement. We cut its oil exports significantly and, when necessary, undertook decisive action to maintain military deterrence. At least 30 Americans and over 1,000 Israelis have been killed in Israel by Iran’s proxy over the past few weeks, something that would never have happened on our watch. It would not have happened because we were clear with the regime: If their proxies harmed or threatened a single American life, we would not only respond by taking out the proxy force, we would go after the Iranian generals who gave the order. We didn’t just talk, either – when we became aware of a real and imminent threat, we responded by eliminating Qasem Soleimani, the man who oversaw Iran’s Quds Force .
This approach resulted in a greatly weakened regime in Tehran that dared not threaten American life and, crucially, lacked the wealth and resources to organize attacks on Israel and destabilize the region. This is what led to real peace and stability across the Middle East, a peace that enabled the signing of the Abraham Accords. All of this has changed now – the recent attacks by Hamas represent a total loss of deterrence with respect to Iran. The Biden Administration must change its course, or there will be even more terror and war in the months ahead.