Israel's war against Iran is America's war, too

Boston Globe

4 hours ago

Israel's Operation Rising Lion has so far unfolded brilliantly. Within two days,
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The goal of Israel's military campaign is to disable Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program once and for all. It waited to strike until after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, reported that Iran
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But it isn't only Israel that has an overwhelming justification to act against Iran. The United States does, too.
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The radical and apocalyptic Islamists who rule Iran hate America as much as they hate Israel. They have been waging war against the United States for 45 years, a war that began when they invaded the US embassy in Tehran and abducted dozens of American diplomats. In the decades since, the Iranian regime has killed many Americans, attacked US targets, and repeatedly proclaimed its aspiration of '
Start with the body count. Iran is responsible — directly or through proxies — for the deaths of many hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans. In 1983, Iran-backed terrorists
During the Iraq War, Tehran armed Shiite militias, training them to attack US troops with devastating roadside explosives that,
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These weren't random acts of violence. They were the fruit of a long-standing Iranian strategy to sap American willpower and intimidate its allies. And they have been accompanied, time and again, by
explicit
calls from Iranian leaders to attack and destroy America.
In the 1980s, the speaker of Iran's Parliament, Hashemi Rafsanjani,
On at least a dozen occasions, Iranian government spokespersons or media outlets have
Given that history of hatred, fanaticism, and slaughter, can anyone disagree with Trump's repeated declarations this week that 'Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon'? Some voices
not
with a cease-fire but rather a 'real end' to Iran's nuclear-weapons quest — or with the regime 'giving up entirely.' He's right. The brilliance of Israel's operation has handed the president the chance to achieve a permanent solution to one of the longest-festering sores in international affairs. He must not squander it.
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Trump likes to describe himself as a peacemaker. At this hour, the best hope for peace lies in shattering Iran's nuclear threat — for good.
Jeff Jacoby can be reached at