Trump Stands Tall on Iran
Let’s recall.
The date: Nov. 4, 1979.
The place: The American Embassy in Tehran, Iran.
On that day, in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution that had overthrown the Shah, followers from the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line descended on the U.S. Embassy. Supported by the leader of the Revolution, one Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the students took 66 hostages from the Embassy staff, both diplomatic personnel and civilians. (RELATED: Reagan’s Shadow, Trump’s Moment)
The flashpoint was the Jimmy Carter administration granting asylum to the cancer-ridden Shah of Iran for treatment in New York. The student revolutionaries held the American hostages for 444 days. At one point, Carter authorized a U.S. military rescue attempt. The mission failed dramatically.
This was a presidential election year in the United States, and the hostage crisis became a daily issue in the campaign between President Carter and the GOP nominee, former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Without doubt, the ongoing crisis contributed to the hard-liner Reagan’s landslide 44-state victory over Carter.
As if to humiliate Carter, negotiations for the release of the hostages finally succeeded on Jan. 19, 1981, the day before Carter was to leave office. Dramatically, with Reagan literally sworn in and giving his inaugural address on Jan. 20, the hostages were released to American authorities, then flown out of Iran first to Algeria and then to a U.S. airbase in Germany where now former President Carter had been sent by the new President Reagan to greet them and escort them first to Ireland (for refueling) and then on to the U.S. and the National Guard base in Newburgh, New York. Days later, after health check-ups and rest, the hostages were given a huge ticker tape parade in New York City.
But the hostility of the Iranian government never went away. Over the ensuing years, there were various attacks on America in one form or another.
Examples:
In April of 1983, the Iran-based Islamic Jihad organized a suicide car bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. In October of that same year, there was another Iran-inspired suicide car bombing, this one again at the Beirut U.S. Embassy. This attack killed 241 U.S. military personnel. Civilian airliners were hijacked through the years, one of them in 1984 diverted to Tehran, where two Americans were tortured and murdered.
On and on this has gone, with Iranian murderous assaults on various Americans in 1985, 1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and on into the 21st century, with Iranian attacks on Americans from 2001 on through the years to just last year in 2025, when American bases in Syria and Iraq were attacked.
Is it any wonder the Trump White House recently headlined this: “Peace Through Strength: President Trump Launches Operation Epic Fury to Crush Iranian Regime, End Nuclear Threat.” (RELATED: Iran’s Fatal Miscalculation)
In short, the reaction of President Trump in authorizing Operation Epic Fury to, in the words of the White House, “eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, destroy its ballistic missile arsenal, degrade its proxy terror networks, and cripple its naval forces” is more than understandable. In all those years since 1979 — a full 47 years — Iran has never stopped with its terrorist activities.
And without doubt, the failure to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons would, one can easily suspect, result in a nuclear attack on both America and its European allies. (RELATED: Ten Thoughts on Operation Epic Fury and Its Aftermath)
In short? As with President Ronald Reagan, President Trump understands the core principle behind the phrase “peace through strength.”
It is crystal clear that the good people of Iran — and surely there are some — must take control of their government ASAP. And put an end to what is effectively a death cult that rules Iran now and has done so since the Iranian revolution in 1979. (RELATED: Why Iranians Have Unified Around Reza Pahlavi)
In the meantime? Stay tuned.
And a few prayers would be in order as well.
READ MORE from Jeffrey Lord: