The attack on Iran has put a clear question front and center for this country and our allies around the world: Given Iran’s long and bloody history of support for terrorism and its nuclear weapons obsession, which poses an existential threat not just to the region but to the world, is military action by the United States justified? 

The answer is clearly yes.

The regime’s nearly 50-year record of mass killings of civilians, both externally and internally, is indisputable. Their support of Hamas made Oct. 7, 2023, a reality. In recent weeks, the Iranian government, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the helm, murdered tens of thousands of its own people. 

In the past few days we have seen additional evidence of the security and safety threat that Iran poses to all nations. They directed missiles at Cyprus. A drone was fired at a French naval port in Abu Dhabi, as well as missiles aimed at hotels and airports in a number of Arab countries. There is no minimizing the weapons Iran will employ to further their lethal objectives from its extensive missile arsenal to deadly drones. Fortunately for the world, nuclear weapons are not among them — yet. 

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote last April, “The intelligence is clear and the conclusion unavoidable: An Iran armed with nuclear weapons would pose an existential threat not only to our allies in the Middle East but to global security as we know it.”

There is no doubt that Iran, despite the destruction of a significant portion of its nuclear program last June, is intent on not only getting a nuclear weapon but also developing the technology........

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