Middle East Musings by David Billet

Middle East Musings

Will Anyone Ever Respond to Iran?

By David Billet

Remember when there was no such thing as negotiating with terrorists? When those who harmed innocent citizens were punished for their cruelty rather than appeased for their actions? I do, but it seems that the Biden administration has blatantly chosen to ignore these principles while watching in silence as Iran sows chaos throughout the Middle East.

Iran recently attacked an oil tanker, known as the Mercer Street, in the Arabian Sea and off the coast of Oman. This attack was carried out with an unmanned drone that was programmed to explode on impact and led to the death of two crewmembers. The primary reason for the attack was that the ship is connected to Eyal Offer, an Israeli billionaire. While the United States, the United Kingdom, Romania, and Israel have all held Iran responsible, they have also failed to carry out any collective response. When will the world finally make Iran understand that a price will be paid for attacking our citizens? Just this past week, Iran attempted to hijack a British vessel, called the Asphalt Princess, off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. A crew member of the Asphalt Princess stated in an audio that approximately five or six Iranian agents had boarded the ship.

These attacks are only the latest in a series of hostilities that prove Iran will only become more aggressive if not held accountable.

The chaos that Iran is seeking to create with its navy is only one part of a greater strategy to inflict harm on Western countries and to destroy the State of Israel. Iran currently funds Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and radical Shiite militias in Iraq. Most recently, Hezbollah fired more than twenty rockets at Israeli towns, even while Lebanon is engrossed in one of the worst financial crises in recent history.

Only three months ago, Israeli towns were shelled by over 2,000 bloodshed and chaos throughout the Middle East?

Iran recently elected a literal mass murderer, Ebrahim Raisi, as its new president. Raisi is widely known for orchestrating mass executions of political prisoners in the 1980s and is currently subject to U.S. sanctions for various human rights abuses. Raisi

was the lead prosecutor on a “death commission” in 1988, is responsible for the death of thousands of men, women, and children, and is a close confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Acting against any sense of human decency, the European Union has sent a diplomat to Raisi’s inauguration as president, essentially supporting a man whose greatest achievement was in torturing and murdering political prisoners. Western nations applaud themselves for acting as the protector of human rights around the world but have turned a blind eye to a leader whose hands are filled with the blood of the innocent.

The world must finally recognize the Iranian ayatollahs for the danger that they are to human life and immediately implement backbreaking sanctions. These sanctions will prove that condemnation by Western countries is not mere rhetoric and will act to alter their dangerous behavior. Iran has proven that their thirst for bloodshed outweighs their desire for peace, and sanctions can enable Western countries to inflict a price for harming their citizens without resorting to direct confrontation. If Iran continues to harm the interests of the United States, the State of Israel, or any other Western country, military action must be taken to rein in this murderous regime.

While Iran has only attacked one naval vessel this past week, it does not take a gambler to bet that they will attack others in the future.

When will the world finally make Iran understand that a price will be paid for attacking our citizens?

rockets that were fired by Hamas. In essence, Iran is striving to create a metaphorical noose around the State of Israel, whereby the terror groups that it funds will obey Iran’s command while also enabling it to deny responsibility for any attack. How can the world continue to watch in silence as Iran solely strives to inflict

David Billet is a student at Fordham Law School, where he is an Associate Editor of the International Law Journal. In May of 2018, David graduated from Queens College, CUNY, with a B.A. in Accounting and a minor in Economics. David additionally writes articles that focus on foreign affairs, domestic policy, and global anti-Semitism. To date, his work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Israel Hayom, and almost twenty other media publications.