MIKE POMPEO: US strikes on Iran nuclear sites mark triumph of decisive leadership

The world changed for the better on Saturday night thanks to America’s devastating strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities – a mission so effective that it impelled Iran to sue for peace with Israel within two days. Americans owe a debt of gratitude to the brave servicemen who carried out this operation, and to President Donald Trump for taking this momentous and necessary decision. 

For the past 46 years, America may not have been at war with Iran — but Iran was certainly at war with America. From assassination plots on American leaders to the proxy forces killing American soldiers in Iraq, Tehran is responsible for the deaths of well over a thousand Americans. The destruction of the Great Satan (America) and the Little Satan (Israel) is embedded in the DNA of this regime, which remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Allowing this evil dictatorship to acquire a nuclear weapon would have been a grave dereliction of duty. 

President Trump has been clear that he would not permit the Islamic Republic to acquire nuclear weapons. Yet presidents often make such promises and fail to deliver – think of President Obama’s “red line” in Syria, or President Joe Biden’s toothless warnings to Russia prior to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

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By following through on his vow, President Trump communicated to Iran – and to the world – that America means business. President Trump gave the Iranian regime every opportunity to negotiate, but would not fall for the regime’s tactic of spinning out talks in perpetuity while racing toward nuclear breakout. 

These strikes embodied the “America First” vision of foreign policy that we pursued during my time as Secretary of State in the first Trump administration. We threw out the Obama administration’s disastrous Iran deal and shifted our policy from appeasement to maximum pressure – imposing real costs for Iran’s bad behavior. When Iranian proxies killed American servicemen, we retaliated by taking out Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani. 

Standing up to the regime checked their ability to project power in the region, and enabled us to forge the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and several Muslim countries. And while they can’t yet say it publicly, I have no doubt that our Gulf Arab allies are thanking us today. 

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Iran’s authoritarian allies in Beijing and Moscow should take note. The fact that neither Xi Jinping nor Vladimir Putin came to Iran’s aid tells us everything we need to know about the strength of that allegedly enduring security and diplomatic partnership. 

Russia and China stand to lose significantly from a weakened Iran: Iran’s ability to provide military hardware to Russia for its war on Ukraine is now compromised, and a key source of pressure on U.S. interests in the region is on the back foot. 

Of course, none of these achievements are without risk, as we saw with Monday’s attacks on U.S. military personnel in the Middle East, which were thankfully intercepted. Iran is not known for keeping its word, and has a long history of using terrorist cells and proxy forces to work their will, and America and our allies must be alert to this danger.  However, President Trump has made it perfectly clear that the days of Iran holding a sword above our heads are over, and the United States will unleash hell if any American is harmed in the coming days. 

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It’s also important to note that there is still work to be done to make sure that Iran’s nuclear program is fully dismantled. The American and Israeli intelligence services will need to figure out what materials the regime was able to disperse in advance of these strikes. But there can be no doubt that their capabilities have been enormously diminished – and that is thanks to the United States and Israel. 

The critics on the left and right who warned we were embarking on a “forever war” once again missed the mark completely. What President Donald Trump initiated was a limited mission to end the forever war that the Iranian regime has been waging against the American people and our allies for decades. And while military action is always a calculated risk, inaction given the condition of the Iranian nuclear program posed a far greater threat to American security. If there was ever a time to act to end the unacceptable threat of a nuclear Iran, it was now. 

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The end of this story is not yet written, but one thing is certain: Saturday night’s strikes were a triumph of decisive leadership that will go a long way toward making President Reagan’s dictum of “peace through strength” a reality. 

America’s enemies must know that we want peace, but are fully prepared to take decisive military action should the situation require it. We’ve now made that plain – and America is safer today as a result. 

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