OPINION:
There is no doubt in my mind that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) think they are the baddest, toughest guys on the planet. Vicious criminals often think they are tougher than everyone else because they are willing to murder and kill to get what they want.
It is common to mistake courtesy for weakness, and other enemies of ours have made that mistake in the past. It’s a different story when their victim has the means to fight back and is willing to use it to punish the aggressor, as we have done in Iran.
I believe most Americans approve of the manner in which President Trump has offered the Iranian regime an off-ramp to this war, preventing further destruction so that the Iranian population can begin rebuilding a peacetime economy, not the criminal one they have had for nearly 50 years.
The United States has exhibited restraint, which I hope at least some Iranian leadership will finally figure out is not the same thing as weakness.
But if the regime’s ugly, criminal behavior continues (through proxies or otherwise), then I don’t think we have much choice if our nation is going to survive. We will have to continue to destroy Iranian infrastructure and seek out and eliminate its leadership, which is obviously underground like Hamas’ top brass were in Gaza.
We cannot continue to give them quarter now if we are going to stabilize the price of oil and our government with a Republican victory this fall.
H.S. ROBINSON
Columbia, South Carolina
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