Cyrus the Great, the compassionate and tolerant Babylonian who unified Iranian tribes in 549 BC to create the Persian empire, advised leaders to seek “diversity in counsel and unity in command”, and “whenever you can, act as a liberator.”
While Cyrus’ Iranian descendants lost this wisdom, his message was heard by the U.S. For months, we have warned that Iran stood on the precipice of developing a nuclear weapon. While we do not agree with Donald Trump on many issues, we presciently predicted that in the face of this crisis, the president would act decisively to neutralize Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
It is premature to declare “mission accomplished” from Trump’s decision today to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, with many expecting potential retaliatory strikes against US forces, allies, and interests by Iran in the hours and days ahead.
But from a broader strategic perspective, it is already clear that today marks a potential turning point for the Middle East.
Far from an unnecessary escalation, as some critics suggest, these strikes represent a step closer to peace and prosperity for the U.S., the Middle East, and the world. The main threat to that – Iran and its proxy network – have been dramatically weakened.
It is hard to overstate the significance of Trump’s strike. A nuclear Iran was one of the gravest long-term security threats facing the world, and nobody wanted to see a regime — dominated by extremist clerics and fanatics responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people — obtain weapons of mass destruction.
But for decades, the presence of Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Iran-backed proxies as threats on Israel’s borders made the neutralization of Iran’s nuclear ambitions unachievable and even unthinkable. For many, it became easier to live with the threat of a nuclear Iran than to deal with it.
Thanks to Israel’s decimation of Iran’s proxies over…
