After 47 years of tyranny, terror, and nuclear brinkmanship, justice is finally being served to the mullahs in Tehran.
For nearly half a century, the Islamic Republic of Iran has defined itself by hostility toward the United States and Israel. From the seizure of our embassy in 1979 to the arming of terrorist proxies across the Middle East, Tehran has pursued a deliberate campaign of violence and destabilization. Iranian-backed militias were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American service members in Iraq. The regime has funded Hezbollah and Hamas, supplied missiles and drones to murder Israeli civilians, and openly declared its intention to erase the Jewish state from the map.
Sovereign nations cannot tolerate such conduct indefinitely.
Thanks to decisive leadership of President Donald Trump and the courage of the U.S. military, Operation Epic Fury has commenced with strength and clarity of purpose. Acting in coordination with our ally Israel, American forces have struck key regime leadership compounds, degraded critical military infrastructure, and dealt significant blows to the naval and missile capabilities that Tehran has long used to terrorize the region. If there was any doubt before, this strike is yet another reminder that the U.S. will always stand with Israel.
The regime in Tehran was given countless opportunities to change its ways. Instead, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chose violence. And now he has reaped what he sowed.
Critics deride the president’s decision as “preemptive,” as though it were based on vague speculations about the future. In reality, this action is the logical and just response to a decades-long campaign of bloodshed against Americans and our allies. The regime facilitated the deaths of hundreds of Americans in the Middle East and plotted the assassination of senior American officials, even placing a bounty on the president himself.
Operation Epic Fury is off to a strong start, but it will not be without cost. Indeed, fighting has already claimed the lives of American service members. We must honor their sacrifice by ensuring that this mission succeeds. It would be foolish to expect the mullahs to go quietly. They will cling to power with all the desperate cruelty they have shown for decades. The president and Congress must continue to provide our military with the resources, clarity of mission, and unified support necessary to achieve lasting victory over the terrorist regime in Tehran.
Excessive restraint applied before victory is secured will be mistaken for weakness, which will only invite further aggression. History has shown that peace is preserved not by wishful thinking, but by American strength.
For decades, the Iranian people have suffered under a regime that jails, tortures, and massacres its political opponents in the hope of smothering the possibility of a popular uprising. Instead, it has inadvertently revealed that the true enemy of this regime is neither the U.S. nor Israel, but the Iranian people themselves. Now is their moment to seize control of Iran’s destiny.
America’s quarrel has never been with the citizens of Iran. It is with the theocratic rulers who have squandered their nation’s vast potential in pursuit of terror and death.
The Iranian people are heirs to one of the world’s oldest and richest civilizations — a nation of poets, scholars, and entrepreneurs whose history stretches back millennia before the ayatollahs seized power. Their future need not be defined by repression and isolation. A free Iran, at peace with its neighbors and with the world, would transform and stabilize the Middle East and strengthen the cause of liberty everywhere.
IRAN OPERATION TO LAST FOUR WEEKS, TRUMP SAYS
If this moment marks the beginning of the end of Iran’s long darkness, it will not be because America sought conflict. It will be because America refused to ignore evil.
Mike Pence served as the 48th vice president of the United States and is the founder of Advancing American Freedom.
