The United States has not had official diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran since the fall and departure of Mohammad Rez Shah, the Shah of Iran and last monarch of the nation in January of 1979. The U.S. would find refuge for the Shah in Panama, and later Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat would provide the Shah political asylum. The Shah died of leukemia in Egypt on July 27, 1980.
The Shah’s fall, viewed in the Middle East as a propped-up puppet of the west, would occur almost as rapidly as the later taking of 53 American citizens and diplomats, held hostage by a militarized group of Iranian college students on the grounds of the American Embassy in Iran. The hostages were held for 444 days, from November 4, 1979, until their release on January 20, 1981, to coincide with the Inauguration of new U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Iran, like many of our enemies in the Muslim world, plays the long game. Among those kidnappers, then the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution were Hossein Dehghan, future Iranian Minister of Defense, Mohammad Ali Jafari, future Revolutionary Guards Commander in Chief and Mohammad Bagheri, future Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Army.
Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat, only the 3rd President of Egypt, was assassinated October 6, 1981, during a victory parade in Cairo, in celebration of Egypt taking the Sinai Peninsula from Israel at the start of the Yom Kippur War. Sadat was assassinated by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad for signing the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in 1978 as part of the Camp David Accords, negotiated by President Jimmy Carter, President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Sadat and Egypt were suspended from the Arab League of Nation’s and more fundamentalist Islamic states also begrudged Sadat harboring the Shah.
Though the U.S. and Iran have not been in direct military conflict since the hostages were freed, tensions have remained high, and continue as Iran’s weapons building programs continue, with near certainty that nuclear warheads are close to being within their grasp.
A recent drone bombing of the Iranian Consulate in Syria, believed to have been conducted by Israel, took the lives of 13 Iranian military leaders, including a senior Iranian Army General. Iran is providing weapon systems and support to Hamas in Gaza; in much the same way the U.S. and western allies are backstopping Israel. Iran’s President has vowed punishment and revenge on Israel, and the United States and their vital assets in the region.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), has halted all leave, and reservists are being called to bolster air defense. In major Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, far from combat zones, visitors and residents reported service disruptions and apparent GPS satellite signal jamming. This signal jamming is interfering not only with civilian navigation, but the control systems for directing drone aircraft.
If Israel and its allies are willing to strike outside of the borders of Iran, to take out a high value target in another sovereign nation (in this case Syria), what is to prevent Iran retaliating with drone strikes not only on U.S. military assets in the Middle East, but on numerous U.S. Embassies and consulates across the region, protected only by small squadrons of U.S. Marines. Later this month the U.S. will commemorate 63 lives lost during the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon 40 years ago in 1983. That terrorist attack was claimed by Hezbollah.
Since the invasion of Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah has fired more than 3,000 rockets at Israeli civilian and military targets. Additionally, Hezbollah has launched drones and 600 anti-tank missiles into Israeli territory. Israel has retaliated with strikes on 4,500 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria. Iran is supplying and assisting Hamas and Hezbollah and is the largest benefactor for both.
And as we emerge more fully from our Covid cocoons, rejoin the world, and return to normalcy, please keep in mind that some very real people, who wish us all nothing but harm and the end of our nation, have publicly said aloud they are getting ready to fire back. Our world may now be more connected than ever, and that can be a good thing, as well as a bad one, but when enemies and war are both still very real, we also need a better plan for Iran. And we may need it soon.