Last week, an attacker attempted to assassinate author Salman Rushdie. The attacker claimed to have been carrying out the wishes of the Iranian regime, which has had a bounty on Rushdie’s head for many years. The assault occurred a week after a gunman had been arrested outside the house of Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in Brooklyn. Alinejad has been a fierce critic of the Iranian regime, and the Ayatollah has long sought to silence her as well. And of course, there have been numerous plots and calls to assassinate American officials who have drawn the regime’s ire – including myself. These things should not surprise us, of course – the Iranian regime is behaving exactly as we in the Trump Administration described it: a rogue, radical Islamic regime that seeks to inflict its evil on the world.
In normal circumstances, these attacks would be the impetus for harsh action by the U.S. government. We aren’t just talking about sanctions – we’re also talking about covert actions. It would be the goal of any responsible Administration to send a clear message to the thugs in Tehran that no American can be threatened without serious reprisal. You have to make your enemies pay when they go after your people.
Unfortunately, we are not living in normal circumstances. The Biden Administration, in its blind and dangerous devotion to reviving the failed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, continues to play footsie with a regime that is actively trying to murder American citizens on American soil. It’s unconscionable.
First, this continues to put the American people at risk of attack. Anyone who criticizes the regime in Tehran seems to be fair game, and it is obvious that the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) does not fear American reprisal the way it did under the Trump Administration. The reason for this is clear – when the IRGC was planning to kill Americans, we took out its leader, Qassem Soleimani. This sent a clear message of strength to the regime and established deterrence, making Americans everywhere safer. The Biden Administration seems intent on rewarding the regime for its malfeasance by continuing negotiations.
Second, by continuing to negotiate with the Iranian regime despite its continued attacks on Americans, the Biden Administration sends a clear message of weakness to America’s adversaries. This is in keeping with a pattern Team Biden has established throughout its tenure. When the Taliban ignored the constraints of the Afghanistan withdrawal plan, the Biden Administration failed to impose costs. When Russian hackers hit the Colonial Pipeline, Biden responded by telling Putin that only certain targets were off-limits. When the U.S. Embassy in Yemen was attacked by Iran-backed Houthi rebels and American personnel were taken hostage, all we heard from Team Biden were strong condemnations. Days later, U.S. envoy for Iran Robert Malley embarked on a trip across the region to convince our partners that renegotiating the JCPOA was the right path forward. The absurd heights to which the Biden Administration will go to appease the regime in Tehran are staggering. It is a risk for all Americans.
That risk is going to loom even larger in a month, when Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will come to New York City to speak to the U.N. General Assembly. Raisi is a butcher who is most famous for organizing the 1988 Massacre, during which the Iranian regime kidnapped and murdered thousands of dissidents. Now, as President of Iran, he is the regime’s chief spokesperson and mouthpiece in front of international bodies – like the U.N. – who cannot seem to wake up from their truly bizarre infatuation with the murderous Ayatollah and his thugs. To be clear: President Biden will allow Raisi and his underlings into the United States, into New York City, even though their assassins just recently attempted to kill an American citizen in that very city. This is disgraceful.
Our President’s highest responsibility is to keep the American people safe. That is why the Biden Administration must immediately end negotiations with the Iranian regime and not permit any Iranian officials to enter our country. Anything less is gross negligence that imperils the safety of the American people.
Source » aclj