Time for President Biden to follow ‘The Gipper’ and invoke the Reagan Doctrine against Iran

Iran is already at war with the United States and threatens to destabilize the world. U.S. troops and military bases in Iraq and Syria are under fire and have endured more than 100 attacks by Iranian-backed militias in the past three months. Tehran-backed Houthi rebels have turned the Red Sea into a battlefield, launching about 25 attacks against commercial ships passing through the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, according to the commander of the U.S. Navy's Central Command.

Traffic disruptions in the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest routes for global trade, are raising shipping costs and threatening the global economy. And it comes after Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7 and Hezbollah launched more than 1,000 rocket attacks into northern Israel.

What is President Biden's reaction? A “final warning” issued by the administration on Wednesday warned that the attacks must be halted or face unspecified “consequences.” Biden's strongly worded letter came after Iran deployed warships to the Red Sea after U.S. forces sank three Houthi boats and killed 10 militants.

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Ultimatums and mini-strikes here and there will not stop Iran and its terrorist groups. In order to prevent the Middle East crisis from reaching a boiling point and depleting the region, it is time for President Biden to change his strategy, from escalation control to escalation control.

Fears of escalation and the anger of Iranian leaders are shaping the Biden administration's policy towards Iran, although the Biden administration still wants to renew the nuclear deal abandoned by the Trump administration. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged in August that he “welcomes any steps Iran takes to actually alleviate the nuclear threat that has grown since the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.”

In this photo released on November 20, 2023, a Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea. (Houthi military media/handout via Reuters)

Many analysts and experts argue that controlled escalation, while effective in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, is the wrong strategy for Iran. Mr. Biden's escalation management approach, an approach that limits the amount and type of weapons supplied to Ukraine to fight Russia, has resulted in Ukraine's destruction, but so far it has not been effective against Russia's Vladimir Putin. The president has avoided targeting Kiev and Europe with nuclear weapons and weapons. bring war to the American mainland.

Iran is a completely different kind of enemy. Russia has the ability to destroy the United States, but Iran does not. Iran, the world's largest, officially does not yet have a viable nuclear arsenal, in contrast to Moscow's arsenal of about 6,000 nuclear warheads.

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An Iranian military truck carrying a surface-to-air missile passes in front of a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader during a parade in Tehran on April 18, 2018. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran is not afraid of Biden's pinprick strategy because it is confident in its ability to outperform the United States in the realm of asymmetric warfare. The Iranian government seeks to tip Washington's balance by launching a protracted, low-intensity military conflict against our forces through the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” an informal network of more than a dozen extremist partners across the Middle East. It is said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the elite Quds Force, which supplies arms to these proxies, have enabled proxy attacks with missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and, most recently, armed unmanned surface drones launched by the Houthis, and advanced The technology level has been demonstrated. The attack on a merchant ship in the Red Sea came just hours after the White House and several US allies issued a “final” warning.

Veiled Iranian schoolgirls stand under surface-to-surface missiles and the Iranian flag during a visit to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) National Aerospace Park in western Tehran on October 11, 2023. The IRGC National Aerospace Park Aerospace Force, which showcases the achievements of the IRGC, was inaugurated on September 27, 2020 by the Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Major General Hossein Salami and the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh. In February, the commander of the Aerospace Forces of the Revolutionary Guards announced Iran's expertise in guiding solid-fuel missiles outside the Earth's atmosphere. (Morteza Nicobazul/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

As Iran modernizes its military equipment, the Revolutionary Guards are training and equipping its proxy forces with upgraded weapons. On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said it had found evidence that Hamas terrorists were learning “how to operate and manufacture precision missile manufacturing components and strategic weapons” under Iranian guidance. President Biden cannot afford to wait until Iranian proxy forces master precision warfare and threaten U.S. troops and civilians with more precise targeting and increased lethality. He must act now.

To attack the U.S. where it hurts, Iran has deepened its expertise in cyberwarfare, including attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure, and has been building a “proxy network within the U.S.” for more than a decade to carry out proxy attacks on U.S. citizens. have been developed. According to the 2023 Annual Threat Assessment published in March by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Iranian regime and its proxies have already attempted assassinations on our territory, including of Americans.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Biden (Getty Images)

The only way to deter Iran is to present the arrogant Ayatollahs with a credible threat of direct confrontation with the vastly superior US military. Mr. Biden can achieve this by employing “escalation dominance.” This concept underpinned U.S. nuclear doctrine during the Cold War and has since been applied to non-nuclear wars. Originally developed to deter the Soviet Union from nuclear attack on the United States, escalation dominance aims to shatter confidence in an enemy's ability to win.

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It is achieved by demonstrating our actions. Any action to counter the enemy's movements is so powerful that if we further intensify hostilities, will the enemy not give in or will we climb the escalation ladder? The strength of all subsequent counterattacks must increase until the enemy's hopes for victory completely disappear and he is forced to abandon the fight.

Fortunately, Biden does not need to reinvent the deterrence framework against Iran. Former President Ronald Reagan did it for him more than 30 years ago.

The US Navy shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by an incoming Iranian-backed Houthi missile in the Red Sea on Tuesday, signaling a serious escalation in the region.

President Reagan adopted an “escalate-to-de-escalate'' principle toward Iran on April 18, 1988, when he authorized Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian targets in the Arabian Gulf. The U.S. Navy launched a coalition attack in retaliation for Iran's attack on the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) four days earlier, in which a mine explosion ripped a gaping hole in the ship's hull and seriously injured 10 sailors. started. The air force and navy conducted operations throughout the day, hitting Iranian targets in the Gulf.

According to the U.S. Naval Heritage Command, U.S. forces have destroyed two Iranian warships, damaged another, dismantled two oil platforms, and disrupted enemy fire control radar and communications. Due to the damage it caused to the navy, the Mantis became the “Praying Mantis”. The largest of the U.S. Navy's five major surface operations after World War II. Tehran got its message loud and clear, ending hostilities by August.

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Hamas terrorists during a military show in Gaza City, July 20, 2017. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

President Reagan took tough action within four days of Iran's provocation. Biden has continued to wring his hands in recent months, only emboldening Tehran to escalate hostilities.

Iran has nearly surpassed the US government and is threatening to set the Middle East on fire. To prevent Iran from terrorizing the world, President Biden must invoke the Reagan Doctrine. Pronto.

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