If we've learned anything about the Islamist extremists who have controlled Iran since the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, it's that retribution against "the Zionists" (Israel) and "the Great Satan" (America) is at the top of their list.
Now, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump pushing the "go" button on U.S. strikes against Iran's three most critical nuclear sites on Saturday night, it's a fool's game to suggest that "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei will simply roll over and play nice.
The bottom line:
Retribution is surely coming. The question is whether any meaningful attempts succeed.
According to Benham Ben Taleblu, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran expert, the Islamist regime has several feasible routes to retribution.
“Make no mistake, they still want to wash away blood with blood,” Taleblu told The Daily Wire.
After stating that Iran has, for roughly 15 years, developed relationships with multinational gangs to murder targets in the United States, Taleblu explained:
The Iranians have tried to kill – on U.S. soil – the Saudi ambassador by working with Mexican drug cartels. They’ve tried to go after a journalist, a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York, by working with, I think it was an Eastern European mafia. And they’ve tried to go after others by even using a Canadian biker gang.
Some of them are called amateur jobs, but the Islamic Republic only needs to get one of them right to be able to land a blow. And given that they’ve shown a real capability to do anything from lone wolf attacks to proxy attacks to work with these transnational criminal cutouts, it makes the job of law enforcement and the national security apparatus [much more difficult].
Moreover, radical Islamists, particularly those who subscribe to jihadist ideologies such as al-Qaeda and ISIS, have very long memories — generationally so. Their ability (impassioned obsession) to think and plan in longer time frames than rational people — particularly in the West.
Feasible Routes to Iranian Revenge
Taleblu explained that while Israel has largely destroyed Iran’s medium-range missile capabilities, Tehran still has stockpiles of shorter-range, more precise munitions that could hit U.S. sites in Iraq:
Infrastructure that Washington has all around the southern part of the Persian Gulf could be struck potentially by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The regime, just like its proxies, is down, but it is not out,. We’ve seen them be able to, again, enter negotiations with a weak hand, leave with a strong hand, be able to play to its adversaries’ fear of a wider war, be able to draw on its adversaries’ concern for restraint, be able to prey on its adversaries’ desire for a more responsible and stable Middle Eastern order.
Simply by being a more disruptive actor, even with the capabilities and even with the persons that they have still at the helm, they can still do damage,” he continued. “When you’re looking at a political system like the Islamic Republic of Iran, regardless of the musical chairs with the commanders, ‘Supreme Leader’ is a title meant to be taken rather literally.
"An Iran Supreme Leader, an 86-year-old ideological man [Khamenei] is currently hosting, or holding," Talebu emphasized, "I should say, a nation of 91-plus million Iranians hostage."
Furthermore, unlike a "normal" decapitation of a government, there are not only untold numbers of radical Islamists hellbent on destroying the Zionists and the Great Satan waiting in the wings, perhaps even more ominous, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, would likely rule Iran, if it took power, with an even more militaristic fist.
ALSO CHECK OUT: 'Anti-War,' Not 'Anti-Reality': Foreign Policy Expert Says Israel-Iran Conflict Is 'America's War,' Too
President Trump Celebrates ‘Monumental Damage’ on Iran’s Nuclear Sites: ‘Bullseye’
As I wrote yesterday, the attack on Iran's nuclear sites —even if those attacks were successful beyond expectations — represented the end of the beginning, vs. the beginning of the end.
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