It’s time for Iran to settle down

Just when I thought the holiday season would bring lots of happiness and joy, society ended up receiving yet another threat. It came as the president of Iran said his nation is in what he referred to as a “full-scale” war with the United States as well as Israel and other nations in Europe.

Among the threats presented by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian included plans to resume development of nuclear energy. This seems to imply their plans to create nuclear weapons.

After all, reports indicated that Iran secretly authorized work to create nuclear warheads, in which the nation was also shown stockpiling missiles. However, the one question that seemed unclear involved what that nation planned to do with those weapons.

Having served in Baghdad for six months during my Air Force career, I saw clear signs of what Iran did to help spread terrorism and other acts of violence against Iraq and other nations in the Middle East. As part of my duties during that six-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I reviewed various news reports released by media organizations in that part of the world.

While it didn’t happen every day, there were a significant number of stories and other news reports involving the discovery of various weapons that terrorist, militant and extremist groups somehow received as a way to help spread their forms of violence against those with opposing perspectives with regards to maintaining law and order. As I read through those reports, they seemed to emphasize that the weapons U.S. and other military forces captured during various combat operations showed an overwhelming number of those weapons came from Iran.

In fact, photos included in many of these news stories showed the words “made in Iran” clearly printed on them.

The question is why that nation allowed this to happen. From my perspective, it seemed that Iran did this for two reasons.

First, that nation sold these weapons to allow all of these terrorist, militant and extremist forces to allow all of that violence to continue without facing possible repercussions from the United States and the world’s other superpowers. After all, Iran could’ve denied that they supported all of these radical groups and that “somehow” these weapons fell into their hands.

The second perspective all comes down to money – the fact that Iran pocketed the cash all of those hostile groups paid. After all, having dedicated access to all of those weapons simply allowed them to continue oppressing those they wanted to control.

With regards to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it seemed clear that its leaders planned to find ways to turn over those weapons to the same terrorist, military and extremist groups so they could inflict more terror against other nations around the world.

Looking back on the pages of history, it seems Iran forgot what happened following the events of Nov. 4, 1979, in which Iranian students seized the American embassy in Tehran and held more than 50 Americans, ranging from the Chargé d’Affaires to the most junior members of the embassy staff, as hostages. The Iranian hostage crisis, as it became known, continued for 444 days when it suddenly stopped and all of the hostages were set free.

So what happened?

Simply put, it came as voters across the United States cast their votes to select this nation’s next president. With Jimmy Carter voted out of the Oval Office once those votes got counted, Ronald Reagan earned to votes to become the nation’s 40th president.

The outcome of the election seemed to indicate that voters remained dissatisfied with how Carter dealt with the hostage situation overseas. After all, Reagan won the election in a landslide with 489 Electoral College votes compared to the 49 that Carter received. In addition, only 41 percent of voters chose Carter while Reagan received nearly 51 percent of the popular votes.

I would be remiss if I forgot to include the fact that the Cold War came to an end just a few years later after Reagan won his second term in office.

From everything we saw once the Iranian hostage situation came to a swift and decisive end, I’m betting good money that Iran knew what would’ve happened had they kept those embassy workers locked up and held captive. It would’ve likely began as the United States deployed a larger number of its heavy bombers and fighter aircraft to that part of the world.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy would’ve deployed its carrier forces to the Persian Gulf as a way to tell Iran to let those hostages go… or else.

Despite all of the efforts to convince Iran to let go of its hatred toward others, it seems they don’t understand the consequences they face. After all, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted his agenda which includes addressing the “danger Iran poses” to both the Middle East and United States.

This danger took the center stage last June during what became known as the “12-day war” in which U.S. and Israeli forces combined to attack Iran. Those targets included that nation’s key nuclear facilities along with its air defense network and prominent military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sites across that country.

Those combat strikes killed about 1,100 Iranians, including its senior military, IRGC and nuclear research people. In response, Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes that killed 28 people in Israel.

Apparently, Iran chose to avoid opening a peaceful dialogue with those they disagreed with. As a result, they lost a considerable number of people as compared to the lives lost in Israel.

I wonder what would’ve happened if Iran continued to launch these attacks. I’m betting good money the United States and its allies would’ve said “enough” and simply eradicated that nation’s military once and for all before telling its leaders to step down and let someone else run that country.

Preferably, the citizens of that nation would’ve selected someone willing to extend a hand in a symbol of peace toward others.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem likely that Iran wants to reach a lasting, peaceful solution. Instead, we heard Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian state that his nation’s diplomatic situation remains “complicated and difficult.”

From my perspective, it sure sounds like he was making baseless accusations versus realizing that this world can continue without him. Let’s just hope he realizes the error of his ways before the United States and its allies come together to permanently end all of the violence Iran continues to perpetuate.

– Brian S. Orban