Democrats from Carter to Biden aided and abetted the rise and growth of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
It was reported that FDR once said about a certain Central American despot, “He’s an SOB, but he is our SOB.” That approach to foreign affairs was not that unusual, as most of the world is not a model democracy. Pinochet in Chile and Mubarak in Egypt could run their countries with iron fists, throw their opponents into jail, and treat elections like an annual physical. As long as they towed the American line and kept out the Commies, they could expect U.S. support and aid. To this day, only Egypt has an Abrams tank production facility outside the United States.
The Shah of Iran used to fall into the above category. He had strong U.S. support; he was an anti-communist and a great friend of Washington. It is no surprise that the current war has the destruction of the last F-4s and F-14s still flying as birds of war: the Shah and the U.S. had a strong military partnership, while Israel and Iran enjoyed warm relations. Israel used to get its oil from Iran. I know some older folks here who remember visiting Tehran before the 1979 revolution.
So, how did Ayatollah Khomeini return to Iran, and how did the Islamic revolution take place? While the cleric returned on an Air France flight, it was Jimmy Carter’s actions that helped seal the country’s fate. He attacked the Shah for his human rights record, while one of his representatives convinced the armed forces not to stage a pro-Shah coup. Carter and his brain trust completely underestimated the weakness of the Iranian opposition and the intentions of Khomeini to seize and hold power for a new Islamic dictatorship. In January of 1979, the Carter administration held secret negotiations with Khomeini’s people in France in which they asked for a “smooth transition” to prevent a civil war. As is usually the case with the West and Islam, leaders of the most advanced and educated countries in the world did not have a clue as to the real and violent intentions of those sitting on the other side of the table. We saw this movie again with Arafat, Hamas, the Taliban, and every Muslim group that the West tried to sell us as being reasonable and willing to live in peace.
Carter’s bookend for the Islamic takeover of Persia was the hostage crisis. The world’s most famous peanut farmer showed the total impotence of his administration by letting the events get out of control. He belatedly tried a military rescue, which had the twin effects of causing loss of life for U.S. servicemen and showing the mullahs how totally incompetent the U.S. had become on his watch. As in Israel, American officers tend to split between the political Left and Right. For every Bibi Netanyahu, you have two Ehud Baraks. Carter was a nuclear submarine officer, trained by no less than Admiral Hyman Rickover. But he was weak and foolish and helped bring the end to the Shah and the beginning of the Islamic nightmare for both the Iranian people and the world. It was not for nothing that Khomeini released the hostages on the day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration: he knew that the all-you-can-eat promo had just come to an end.
Now let’s fast forward to the presidency of Barack Obama. After years of freezing Iranian accounts and sanctioning various businesses and individuals, Obama came to help out the Iranian Republic. He crafted the “Iran deal,” which allowed for sanctions relief, money—lots of money—and the eventual building of an atomic bomb long after Barack Obama had left Washington. Bibi Netanyahu made the speech to Congress against the developing Iran deal. In cahoots with pre-Trump Republicans, the deal was not required to have 60 votes in the Senate as any normal treaty would require. Rather, if a proposal against the deal did not pass Congress, then the deal would go into effect. Sanctions relief gave the mullahs access to a lot of goodies that had been forbidden to them. A trash agreement supposedly related to an arms deal from the days of the Shah led to the initial transfer of $400 million out of a final cash payout of $1.7 billion in multiple currencies sent on pallets on a single cargo plane. Four hostages were released simultaneously, but the Obama administration claimed that the two events were unrelated. That money was never spent on improving the life of the average Iranian citizen. Rather, it was employed for advanced nuclear work and funding of Iran’s overseas terror network.
One of the great puzzles over the past few decades is the love affair between Marxists and Islamists. The communists in Iran joined with Khomeini in the push to get rid of the Shah; when the mullacracy was established, the commies and everyone else not Islamic enough were given the rough treatment by their former partners. One has seen for the past two years leftists and Islamists marching in Western cities and on college campuses. On paper, other than breathing and eating, they have nothing really in common. A standard leftist is a big believer in homosexuality and trans; Islamists kill homosexuals by hanging or sending them to the ground floor without an elevator. Leftists tend to be atheists or outright anti-religious; Islamists put Sharia front and center, and they are not averse to telling non-Muslims not to eat in public during Ramadan or to keep their dogs or booze out of their neighborhoods. Islamists often marry multiple women and have lots of kids; leftists often don’t marry, and if they do, they’re more likely to have a dog than a child. What unites them is their hatreds: Jews, Israel, the U.S., freedoms, and the West. They have enough common hatred that they gloss over their cavernous differences in order to work together to destroy Israel and the West. With Qatar and the Soros Foundation providing the funding, they have plenty of money for protests, signs, loudspeakers, and bail money when required.
After Donald Trump once again got tough on the mullahs, Joe Biden—or really the pro-Iran coterie around him—got back to the business of helping out the theocracy. His administration unfroze $16 billion in Iranian assets. They always said that the money could not be used for terror, but the Democrats never understood the word “fungible.” If the Iranians can use $2 billion from the unfrozen $10 billion from South Korea, then the same amount from the annual budget could be sent to Hamas to buy weapons prior to the October 7 assault. Playing dumb fits well with Biden, Vice President Cackles, and the Obama retreads who filled out his administration. Iran Envoy Robert Malley ran an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence Washington toward Iran. He was put on unpaid leave and had his security clearance revoked for “mishandling” classified information. He is currently a lecturer at Yale. How appropriate. In 2024, Asif Rahman was arrested for leaking Israel’s Iran attack plans. At least he didn’t wear a dress.
So what Donald Trump is currently doing in Iran by pummeling the mullahs and their IRGC friends is a correction of Democratic malfeasance and perfidy toward the American and Iranian people. Carter ushered in Khomeini, while Obama and Biden made sure that his followers had enough money in the bank to fund world terror (including all of the IEDs used to kill and maim American servicemen in Iraq) and develop a deliverable nuclear weapon. Israeli and American attacks are undoing what three American administrations did when they didn’t understand with whom they were dealing. Donald Trump understands America’s enemies and is giving it to them like they have never seen before.