War wasn’t the answer
OPINION:
This weekend, I talked to an Iranian American whose father converted from Islam to Christianity. His best friend was abducted and tortured, and his pastor was stabbed 27 times.
He supports U.S. intervention, and who could blame him? His community has been terrorized for decades. Reformation is long overdue, but let’s not forget how we got here.
The 2015 Iran deal was a diplomatic achievement for the entire world. Iran became more peaceful, it reduced uranium enrichment, and the economy was rewarded. Gross domestic product rose while inflation and unemployment declined. Our diplomacy achieved short-term peace.
Really, what more could you ask of an unstable adversary?
In 2018, President Trump withdrew from the deal, catalyzing a series of regional escalations that brought us to where we are today. He imposed heavy sanctions that crippled the Iranian economy, leading to civil unrest, followed by government force and many casualties. Iran felt threatened by the U.S. withdrawal, and by 2019, its uranium was climbing toward weapon-usable levels.
On Jan. 3, 2020, the U.S. killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, prompting Iran to launch missiles at the Ain al-Asad air base. I talked to a U.S. veteran who testified that a missile blew up the tent he slept in on the base after U.S. military leaders showed negligence by not adequately thwarting the attacks.
Proxy clashes increased leading up to the 12-day war in June, when Israel launched airstrikes at Iran and the U.S. attacked nuclear sites. Mr. Trump had crippled Iran’s economy, and he had the leverage to negotiate a great deal, but despite his campaign promises as a shepherd of peace, he clearly wanted war.
Military action in Iran might sound like a crusade of liberation against a despotic state, but it will almost certainly result in the deaths of many Americans, the depletion of billions of American tax dollars, a regional war and a diaspora of millions of Iranians hoping not to be killed in a sanctimonious effort to “set them free.”