RUTHFULLY YOURS

Is the Ayatollah regime a threat to the US?

*It has been claimed that Iran’s Ayatollah regime does not pose a threat to the US, nor would a nuclear Iran. Moreover, it has been suggested that just like a nuclear India, Pakistan and North Korea, a nuclear Iran may be a regional threat (e.g., North Korea), but not a global threat to the US.

*However, unlike India, Pakistan, North Korea, Russia and China, a nuclear Ayatollah regime would be the first ever apocalyptically megalomaniacal regime.

Unlike the other nuclear powers, the Ayatollah regime is fully committed to a 1,400-year-old vision, which transcends financial and diplomatic considerations, and is underscored in Iran’s school curriculum, mosque sermons and official media, mandating the regime to topple all “apostate” Sunni regimes and bring the Western “infidel” to submission, especially “The Great American Satan.”

Furthermore, dissimilar to the other nuclear powers, the Ayatollah regime is the leading epicenter of global anti-US terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and the proliferation of advanced military systems. Currently, the operational footprint of this apocalyptic regime extends from the Persian Gulf and the Middle East through East, North and West Africa to Latin America (the US’ soft underbelly), the US-Mexico border and the US homeland.

Regime-change pro and con

*The attainment of the noble goal of ending wars and terrorism is preconditioned upon eliminating the world’s leading epicenter of wars and terrorism, which is the (currently) non-nuclear Iran’s Ayatollah regime. Refraining from regime-change in Iran, on the one hand, and pursuing the prevention, minimization and ending wars and terrorism, on the other hand, constitutes a self-destructive oxymoron.

*Would a US-induced regime change in Iran alienate the Iranian population and the Muslim World?  Such an assertion ignores the yearning of most Iranians to be liberated from the despotic and ruthless Ayatollah regime, and their deep despair when left – by the US – hanging high and dry in 2009 and 2022. It also overlooks the fact that all Sunni Arab regimes – and especially the pro-US Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan – are eagerly awaiting the US to remove the Ayatollah machete from their throats. It, also, takes lightly the 1,400-year-old divide between Sunni and Shiite Islam, which has been severely fueled by the Ayatollah regime.

*The attempt to compare a potential regime-change in Iran to the failed regime-change attempts in Iraq and Afghanistan disregards the vast differences between their history, culture, education, social cohesion and the degree of contempt for the central regime. Thus, the population of Iran – contrary to the population of Iraq and Afghanistan – is much more equipped to offer a constructive alternative to the Ayatollah regime.

*The reluctance to flex the regime-change muscle has eroded the US posture of deterrence, frustrating allies and boosting the daring of rogue entities, such as Iran and its proxies and allies in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. It has also brought Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt closer to China and Russia.

Iran’s Ayatollah regime targets US soil

According to the US Homeland Security Threat Assessment, 2025: “The PRC, Russia, and Iran will remain the most pressing foreign threats to our critical infrastructure…. Among state actors, we expect Iran to remain the primary sponsor of terrorism and continue its efforts to advance plots against individuals – including current and former US officials – in the United States…. Iran maintains its intent to kill US government officials it deems responsible for the 2020 death of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – Quds Force Commander and designated foreign terrorist Qassem Soleimani…. Specifically, China, Iran, and Russia will use a blend of subversive, undeclared, criminal, and coercive tactics to seek new opportunities to undermine confidence in US democratic institutions and domestic social cohesion…. Iran almost certainly will continue to target US-based Iranian dissidents. In the past several years, Iran has used US persons, Iranian diaspora members, and third-country nationals to surveil, harass, and intimidate regime dissidents….”

This assessment by the Homeland Security Department has been echoed by the FBI and the March 2025 Annual Threat Assessment by the Director of National Intelligence.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio stated during his January, 2025 Senate confirmation hearing: “[Iranian proxies] have long planned contingencies for attacks [on US soil]…. The Islamic Republic’s roving extraterritorial gangs undoubtedly threaten the security of US nationals or US national security…. Their ability to penetrate U.S. soil also positions them as a risk to American national security, as successive Worldwide Threat Assessments produced by the US intelligence community have highlighted, Iran’s commitment to its decade-long effort to develop [violent] surrogate networks inside the United States….

Iran’s Ayatollah regime undermines the US’ soft underbelly

The Madrid-based Atalayar reports: “Latin America is the backyard of the United States, and the Iranian presence is a challenge to the Monroe Doctrine…. An enemy power on the doorstep of major US cities. The Iranian threat to US national security, using Latin America as a platform, is not just theoretical.  The Iranian threat to the United States has been demonstrated over the years….  Iran’s interest in Latin America dates back to the early 1980s.  However, over the last two decades, this presence [in collaboration with drug cartels, terror organizations and anti-US governments] has intensified…. Shortly after coming to power [in February 1979], Khomeini began to explicitly state his intentions to expand the Islamic Revolution beyond Iran’s borders…. From the mid-1980s onwards, Iran’s presence [in Latin America] has become more evident. It is during this time that Iran began to promote the expansion of its proxy, Hezbollah, in Latin America. Hezbollah’s initial forays into Latin America took place in the area known as the ‘Tri-Frontier’ between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.  This is part of a systematic and long-term strategy to fight against its enemies, namely the United States and Israel. Ultimately, Iran’s goal is to expand its influence and capabilities throughout the Western hemisphere…. Iran has directly targeted US citizens, such as former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Iranian opponents, dissidents and exiles with the intention of threatening, intimidating, kidnapping, attacking or assassinating them on US soil….”

The bottom line: the Ayatollah leopard does not change ideological stripes, only negotiation tactics.