OPINION:
My fellow Americans, I don’t often sit down here in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk to give speeches. I prefer to talk to you more off the cuff. But I’m making an exception today because I want you to understand exactly what I’m thinking and what I plan to do about the America haters in Tehran.
We’ve already achieved a lot — more than any other president over the nearly half-century since Iran was taken over by lunatics calling themselves “Islamic revolutionaries.”
In the 12-day war last June, in which we partnered with Israel, and then in the 38 days of Operation Epic Fury that began in February, the so-called supreme leader of the so-called Islamic republic was eliminated along with dozens of his mass-murdering cronies.
We obliterated many of the regime’s nuclear facilities, setting back by years its drive for nukes and missiles that could deliver them to American cities. We destroyed thousands of missiles and drones and the factories that produce them.
I then did something very nice and reasonable. I offered Iran’s rulers a ceasefire if they’d just stop attacking commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz — choking off 20% of the world’s oil trade, punishing every nation on earth that depends on imported energy — which America does not, by the way.
They agreed. Then, the next day, they forgot they had agreed.
So, I launched Project Freedom to get commercial ships safely through the strait — which is an international waterway, and if we don’t enforce freedom of navigation, a basic international law, then no one else will.
Then, at Pakistan’s request, two days in, I paused Project Freedom to give diplomacy one more chance.
And what happened? Last week, the so-called Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked three U.S. Navy destroyers in the strait with missiles, drones and swarms of little mosquito boats. We blew them all away.
I told these guys: There’s still a ceasefire, but if you make me call it off, you’re going to get hit harder than anybody has ever been hit.
Their proposals have been ridiculous. They demand we pay them war reparations, let them enrich uranium and allow them to hold the global economy hostage by charging tolls and shutting down the Strait of Hormuz whenever they feel like it.
Not going to happen.
Last week, I sent Iran’s so-called representatives another very nice and reasonable offer. Their response was a piece of garbage. So, the ceasefire is now on life support with a 1% chance of living.
Let me be clear about my red lines, because you, the American people, deserve to know.
This regime — which for 47 years has pledged “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” — will not have nuclear weapons. Period.
My predecessors also said that, but not one of them took any serious action.
Just saying “Don’t” doesn’t cut it.
And Obama’s deal gave the mullahs billions of dollars, ignored their missiles and terrorist proxies, and would have allowed them to become nuclear-armed within just a few years. Crazy! So, I killed it in my first term. I was right to do that.
Now, I want to speak directly to the Iranian people for a minute. You are not our enemies. You are a great people with a great history going back thousands of years.
But thanks to the mullahs, a third of you now live in poverty. Regime thugs have slaughtered tens of thousands of you — in the streets, even in hospitals — for the crime of wanting to be free from oppression. They’re still murdering your people — including beautiful women and innocent children.
They took Iran’s natural wealth and spent it arming terrorists — Hezbollah, which has turned Lebanon into a failed state; the Houthis, who have turned Yemen into a failed state; the Shiite militias that prevent Iraq from becoming free.
Maximum pressure on the regime means maximum support for you, the Iranian people, because you don’t chant “Death to America!” You chant “Women, life, freedom!” We can be great friends.
Here’s where things stand. I don’t do appeasement. But if Iran’s rulers stop playing games and sign a deal that permanently ends their nuclear programs, opens the strait, and stops funding terrorists at home and abroad, we can end hostilities and lift the blockades.
If they keep stalling, then the economic pressure will be total and the bombing will resume at a much higher level. Every oil tanker, every shadow bank, every front company they use to survive will be gone.
I hoped they wanted peace, but it looks like they want either power or to become martyrs. They can’t have the former, but I can give them the latter.
I don’t follow polls, but I do read them. The latest Harvard-Harris poll shows that 74% of Americans — including 60% of Democrats — believe we are winning. And 74% say stopping Iran from getting nukes is in America’s interest. So, even most Democrats agree with me on that, even if their leaders won’t admit it.
I know this isn’t easy for you. I know you’re feeling pain at the pump. But when we obliterate this threat, prices will go down, and they’ll stay down.
Our economy and our country are heading into a Golden Age — bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before. We are creating jobs like never before. We are becoming not just energy-secure but also energy-dominant. You’ve seen nothing yet.
My final thought for tonight: There’s a very true statement that I’ve kept in mind all my life: “Quit or continue. Both hurt. But only one brings success.”
So, we are going to see this through.
God bless you, God bless our troops, and God bless America.
• Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a columnist for The Washington Times and host of the “Foreign Podicy” podcast.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.