Contrary to Obama's current line, Iran's politics are not a strictly internal affair. Iran is run by a malignant and murderous regime, which since its inception in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has been in the business not only of ruling by terror at home, but of exporting its despotic creed and tactics abroad.
The full record extends across the decades, from the taking of U.S. hostages in Tehran in 1979 to bombings in Beirut, Argentina, and beyond. But for a handy summary of the problem in very recent times--and this is before we even get to the matter of Iran's pursuit of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons--Obama could turn to the latest report of his own State Department on "State Sponsors of Terrorism."
There, one finds not only that Iran in 2008 "remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism," but that "Iran's involvement in the planning and financial support of terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia had a direct impact on international efforts to promote peace, threatened economic stability in the Gulf, and undermined the growth of democracy."
So Obama has a choice: He can continue to sit on his hands -- hands that are eager to extend a shake of friendship to an anti-American crazy like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- or he can start acknowledging that not only this country, but all peace-loving nations of the world have a stake in what's going on in Iran.