Iran then and now

The Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi a US backed dictator was overthrown in 1979 and a religious dictator took control. These new leaders immediately held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days while the US stood helpless for fear that the oil supply would be cut off. Thus began 47 years of rule by a theocratic dictatorship led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Citizens were controlled by the Mullahs and women’s rights were curtailed based on Sharia Law. In 1980, Iraq led by Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and started a war that lasted until 1988, costing both nations massive resources and lives which strengthened the control by the Mullahs. During the war, the US sided with Iraq and sent chemicals that could be turned into weapons along with materials to make anthrax. These were used to synthesize mustard gas, sarin, tabun and VX and all were used against the Kurds and Iranians. Years later when Bush 43 was president he went in to Iraq based on the threat of WMD but he asked the wrong question. He asked where are the WMD instead of what happened to the WMD. Iraq claimed they destroyed them but would not say where because the ground could have been tested to confirm the destruction. While US troops encountered some scattered remnants of WMD, they did not find an active or large-scale site where the weapons were destroyed. Led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran embarked upon expanding their influence in the area. They set up and financed the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the PMF in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and various groups in Syria. The use of proxies provided Iran with “plausible deniability” and allowed them to continue their goal of destroying Israel. Iran sees Israel’s military power as a direct security challenge and a reason to develop nuclear bombs. After Khomeini’s death in 1989, the new Ayatollah Khamenei became Supreme Leader and they continued to export the revolution. Over the years Iran has attacked Americans. In 1983, 220 American servicemen were killed when an Iranian proxy blew up their Beirut barracks. President Reagan immediately pulled all US soldiers from the area and once again the US refused to confront Iran just as they did during the 1979 hostage situation. Then in 1996 several hundred US soldiers were injured when another Iranian proxy blew up the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and true to form President Clinton did not retaliate. Iran continued down the path of disrupting the area and added Hamas to their list of proxies. In recent years a combination of events has put Iran in a weakened condition and the US and Israel combined forces to take military action. Iran lost their supply path to Hezbollah when Assad was deposed in Syria. Attacks by Israel in Palestine had weakened Hamas and the inability to supply Hezbollah with weapons allowed Israel to move into Lebanon. The Houthis were weakened when they tried to close the Red Sea and this left Iran without their proxies. The economic sanctions had put the Iran economy into a tail spin and the time was right to finally put an end to the regimes ability to cause havoc. The US was no longer dependent on Middle East oil and could finally act without fear. The question now is, will the American people be willing to put up with high gas prices to end the long running rogue nations desire to bring death to Israel and America or will they go back to the old days of just watching and waiting.