President Trump’s announcement of a U.S. military campaign against Iran was an exceptional moment for him and for our country. From its earliest days in 1979, the Islamic Republic chose the United States as an enemy: first seizing our embassy and making our diplomats hostages, later murdering Americans in the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, and killing hundreds of soldiers during the Iraq War. “Death to America” has been their constant slogan. And the United States never decided to put an end to these attacks — until now.
In previous strikes at Iran, such as President Reagan’s attack on the Iranian navy in 1988 and Trump’s own “Midnight Hammer” strike against Iranian nuclear sites last year, American objectives were limited. But Trump has put behind us “surgical strikes” and has told Americans that the regime is evil and is an enemy, and we want it gone. That is why he recited, in his announcement of the campaign, the history of the regime’s crimes against us. He repeated that the regime cannot be permitted to have a nuclear weapon, but he expanded his war aims well beyond that.
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