Was Iran Really a Threat? Is This A "Just War?"

The real answer is "Yes."

When President Trump's Director of Counterterrorism quit last week over the Iran war, Joe Kent wrote in his resignation letter that, "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation."

Tucker Carlson has said the chances of Iran ever launching a nuclear weapon were "zero."

Megyn Kelly says American servicemen and women are fighting "…for a foreign country. This feels very much to me like Israel's war."

Since the 1979 embassy takeover in Tehran, however, Iran has engaged in a non-stop campaign of asymmetric warfare against the United States.

Be informed, not misled.

The history of violence of Iran toward the US 

Iran and its proxies have attacked, kidnapped, and killed Americans some 45 times since the Iranian revolution.  And that doesn't include the hundreds of Americans killed and maimed in Iraq by Iran's allies.

Tzvi Kahn has compiled a complete history of the attacks for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Kahn says, "The hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, when Iranian students backed by the regime, took several dozen American hostages for 444 days…that, you could say, was sort of the opening shot in the conflict between the United States and Iran. And what we saw in the 47 years since it's been a sustained campaign by the regime to target Americans in the Middle East and throughout the world."

• Since 1979, Iran and its proxies have killed Americans in more than 30 attacks.
• In 1983, Iranian-backed terrorists car-bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. Since 1979, Iran and its proxies have killed Americans in more than 30 attacks.
• In 1983, Iranian-backed terrorists car-bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 17 Americans.
• In October 1983, also in Beirut, a truck bomb at the Marine compound took the lives of 241 U.S. military personnel.  
• In 1996, a truck bomb blew up the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans and injuring 500. 
• In 1998, Iran helped al-Qaeda suicide bombers blow up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans.
• During the Iraq war, Iran-backed militias killed at least 603 U.S. troops, often with IEDs.
• Iran was directly involved in the October 7th massacre, resulting in the murders of 46 Americans in Israel, along with 1,200 Israelis.   

And the Iranian regime is still trying to kill President Trump.

Trump is the first President to confront Iran

Dale Hurd writes, "The first targeted U.S. military attack on Iran was not until 2020, when a drone strike killed Iranian Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani."

Kahn says, "We never really saw a sustained, aggressive campaign by the United States against Iran. What we really saw instead was an attempt to negotiate with the regime, to pacify the regime."

The Obama and Biden administrations gave back to Iran $17 billion in frozen assets, after which the regime attacked the U.S. again.

Barak Seener, Senior Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London, says, "This war in Iran is well overdue."

Seener says because of the Iranian leadership's Muslim belief that there must be a global war to usher in the return of their Mahdi, or Twelfth Imam, it could never be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

"Their confrontational posture towards the West is informed by this theocratic and nihilistic philosophy. This also courts confrontation, courts even, their own suicide by the return of the Twelfth Imam," Seener said.

Both experts agree that the Iranian regime will keep on killing Americans until it is stopped.

The war on Iran is a just war.

John Stonestreet, with "Breakpoint", a Colson ministry, asked Dr. Eric Patterson, president and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and an expert on what’s known as the just war tradition, about the historic events of the last few days as America and Israel attacked Iran.

Patterson's educated answer is a little lengthy. This is a link to his entire response. 

This is a summary of what he said:

Iran has retaliated with strikes on at least five neighboring countries, which is nothing new for them. So let me say something about the Christian tradition, about thinking about issues of war and peace; but first, I’ll remind us that, going back to the Iranian revolution of 1979, Iran has been a rogue actor in international affairs, attacking its neighbors and attacking the United States. 

It’s estimated by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, for instance, that there have been at least 180 attacks by Iran and its proxies on the U.S. in recent decades. 

To be clear, Iran is a bad actor. The evidence is there, and it’s uniquely bad because they are the number one state sponsor of terror, which happens to be working on a nuclear program. Putting all of that to the side, (but keeping in mind the evidence that suggests someone should do something), the Christian tradition asks three questions: What is the moral basis for the decision to use force? Once that decision has been made, how do we use force morally? With an eye towards better peace, what are the ethical steps in the post-conflict phase?  

And that’s why I call this “statecraft,” because it takes the diplomats, the political leaders, the humanitarians, as well as the warriors, to all be involved from the early phases, the deterrence phase, the diplomatic phase, through a hot war, and then to diplomatic settlement on the back end. 

The just war tradition says first in making that decision, there should be a legitimate reason for government authorities acting on a just cause with right intention. And certainly, as a country that’s been attacked as many times as our allies have, the United States government is a legitimate actor to protect the lives, livelihoods, and way of life of our citizens and our allies. 

Takeaway

Just war tradition says we should act for a just cause, such as preventing future wrongs, punishing wrongdoers, and stopping ongoing wrongdoing. Self-defense, of course, fits that category. But so does this effort towards justice. And it should happen with “right intention.” That’s a Christian element that’s beyond any legal or illegal parameters. As we look at the heart, even if something’s legal, is it moral?  

What we’ve heard from the president and from others is not a dehumanization of the Iranian people. We don’t call them names. We actually act out of love. We’d like to see the Iranian people free from tyranny and, at the same time, see a change in regime that is no longer a threat to their own people and to their neighbors. And so, thinking about the specific case, that’s the place to start. 

This is a just war.

Romans 13 defines what God expects from those who rule, or, as in the United States, those who serve in elected leadership.

• Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
• Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
• For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
• For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
• Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
• For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.