What to do with the Islamic Republic of Iran
What to do with the Islamic Republic of Iran

First and foremost, I recommend all media and elected officials make a distinction between Iran as an ancient and civilized nation and the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) as a rogue state. Iranian rulers have stated time and again that Iran means nothing to them while they belong to the “International Community of Islam.” A quote from the founding father of the Islamic Revolution should suffice since his words are still considered authoritative in Iran: 

“We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.”

The recent attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and the shooting down of a US military surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz have created tension in the region while the world is watching what the Trump administration’s proper response would be against the perpetrator, the Islamic Republic and its terrorist paramilitary group, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).  

Many experts and pundits have been busy making assumptions on what the Trump response will be or should be.

The IRGC commander-in-chief Maj-Gen Hossein Salami confirmed the attack on the US spy drone and warned the US to respect Iran's territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, President Trump told reporters that he believed that Iran unintentionally shot down an American spy drone Thursday, calling the move "a very big mistake." 

Well, I am not a mind reader and I don’t know what the Trump administration is going to do in retaliation. But, I am fully confident that the attack on the drone was intentional and there is no mistake about it. The question is what to do next!  

I don’t believe we need to go to war with the Islamic regime over a drone. We must exercise restraint from any temptation to attack any part of Iranian soil with cruise missiles, yet, we cannot let the regime get away without any punishment.

Here are my recommendations. The Islamic Republic is highly isolated, sanctions are working and economically they are one step away from becoming another Venezuela.  This brutal regime is on the verge of collapse. By attacking the IRI militarily, we will give them new life. It is my conviction that a military attack against Iran should not even be the last card on the table. Any such move, either by Israel, the U.S., or a combination of both, will trigger a kind of turmoil that can set the region ablaze. And the blaze will most assuredly scorch Israel and hugely damage the U.S.

If we must retaliate in order to save face, let’s just make a limited attack on their oil rigs and a few warships as former President Ronald Reagan did in 1988.

 

Besides, the military option can always be exercised.  Given the present overwhelming opposition of the masses to the rule of the Mullahs, an effective and measured sanction as has been enforced by the Trump administration provides an excellent means of regime change without resorting to military action.

They say patience is a virtue. In this case, it really is. The Islamic clergy, the parasitic prime beneficiaries of radical Islam, are master practitioners of the carrot and stick strategy and they are on their way out.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has entered its fourth decade, and the values and legacy of the Revolution it was founded upon continue to have profound and contradictory consequences for Iranians. They have ruled over the defenseless Iranian people with iron fists and absolute power. As a result, millions of Iranians were forced to flee their home to the four corners of the globe. 

Those remaining have been targeted to waves of arrests of largely innocent people. They have been accompanied by widespread torture, rape and mass executions. Tens of thousands more were torn away from their homes and moved to Islamic dungeons. These prisoners of conscience were forced to confess to crimes they never committed, and then either exterminated or sent to medieval Islamic torture chambers where they simply faded away. It is difficult for many people to even talk about these horrible tragedies under the Islamic rules in Iran. I personally spoke with a few lucky ones who managed to flee the country.

In short:  if the mullahs get the bomb, they will make use of it in numerous ways. They will use it for blackmail, they will use it in small packages through untraceable proxies, and they might even launch it by their missiles in a homicide-suicide fashion which is their trademark. The Iranian people must be encouraged to replace them.