Recent remarks by a senior Iranian official, Amir Hayat-Moqaddam, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, once again confirmed what many in the West have feared: the Islamic Republic of Iran's grand strategy has always included targeting not only Israel and its neighbors but also Europe and the United States.
In his latest statement, Hayat-Moqaddam openly declared that Iran is capable of striking all of Europe and even US cities such as Washington and New York with missiles launched from offshore Iranian ships.
His comments come at a time of heightened tension in the aftermath of the devastating 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which saw Israeli and US strikes take out significant portions of Iran's nuclear program and air defense systems. These developments, in retrospect, likely saved the Western world from a nightmare scenario — an ideologically driven regime equipped with nuclear warheads capable of striking European capitals and even American cities.
Western policymakers had been hoping for decades that engagement, dialogue and economic deals could temper Tehran's revolutionary zeal. The regime's latest statements, however, show that such hopes are illusory: Iran is not guided by pragmatic statecraft but by an uncompromising ideology that explicitly calls for global expansion of its revolution.
It may have been reasonable for analysts to assume that, after the humiliation and destruction inflicted on Iran during the 12-day war, the regime might reassess its regional and global ambitions. The opposite has proven true. Instead of retreating into a defensive posture, Iran's leaders are standing defiantly against the West, doubling down on their rhetoric, and reasserting their vision of exporting their Islamist revolution.
Iran is not operating as a conventional nation-state that weighs costs and benefits rationally. It is an ideological state that adheres to the principle, enshrined in its Islamist constitution, of exporting its revolution. As the Islamic Republic's founding Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, once declared:
"We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no God but God' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle."
This ideology places Iran's confrontation with the United States and Europe not in the realm of geopolitics but in the realm of existential religious struggle.
Hayat-Moqaddam went on to reveal that Iran has spent more than 20 years developing a capability for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace Force to launch ballistic missiles from ships at sea. He stated that Iranian ships could be moved within approximately 2,000 kilometers of the U.S. coastline, from where Washington, New York, and other American cities would be within striking range. He further emphasized that every European country is already within Iran's missile envelope.
Hayat-Moqaddam's words are not vague threats. They are a boast, a proclamation of a plan decades in the making. Such statements must be taken seriously: they reveal the true intentions of the regime: to extend its deterrent power by threatening both Europe and America, and to hold the West hostage to the fear of devastating missile strikes.
His remarks must also be understood in the broader context of Iran's military posture. In recent weeks, Iran held its first major naval drills since the war with Israel. Iran launched new cruise missiles such as the Nasir and Qadir in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. Coastal missile batteries were also activated during these exercises. Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh confirmed that the exercises were meant to display Iran's growing missile capabilities. The message from Tehran was unmistakable: Iran seeks to demonstrate that its long-term military doctrine remains intact, and its missile arsenal remains central to its strategy of confrontation.
Iran's missile program is not a recent invention. It is the product of decades of determined development. Today, Iran possesses the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the Middle East. These include a range of short-, medium- and long-range missiles designed to strike adversaries near and far. Earlier this year, Iran unveiled the Qassem Bassir medium-range ballistic missile, capable of reaching roughly 1,200 kilometers, with advanced guidance systems, representing another leap forward in precision and range. Iran's investment in its ballistic missile arsenal is not defensive; it reflects a doctrine of "deterrence by punishment," the idea that Iran can intimidate adversaries by holding their cities, infrastructure, and populations at risk of destruction. In this sense, Iran's missile arsenal is not just a tool of war — it is an instrument of political leverage, designed to project power far beyond Iran's borders.
What might have been if Israel and the United States had not acted decisively during the 12-day war? President Donald Trump stated that Iran was just four weeks away from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and could quickly have mounted nuclear warheads on its ballistic missiles. The implications are chilling: just one missile tipped with a nuclear warhead hitting a European or American city would be catastrophic. Iran is estimated to still have thousands of ballistic missiles that can reach Europe when launched from Iranians soil. If launched from ships at sea, the continental United States is also within range of Iran's missiles, as Iran is now openly warning.
During the recent conflict, Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, dozens of which broke through Israeli defenses and wreaked destruction on both civilian and military targets. Iran's threat is not hypothetical; it is a proven capability paired with a proven willingness to use it.
The West must now confront the sobering truth that for too long, policymakers have entertained the illusion that Iran can be moderated through engagement, economic incentives and international agreements. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in 2015, was the most prominent example of this approach. Yet, even while this "nuclear deal" was in place, Iran continued to expand its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, and to spread its influence across the Middle East through its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and the Gaza Strip. This was not a deviation from its ideology but a direct application of it. Since 1979, Iran's leaders have always regarded the United States and Europe as enemies, even before the West imposed sanctions or intervened in regional conflicts. The hostility is not reactive; it is ideological. Like Nazism in the 20th century, the Iranian regime's ideology cannot be appeased with compromises.
The policy implications are clear. First, the West must abandon the false hope that diplomacy alone will alter Tehran's course. Sanctions must be maintained and expanded, not lifted in exchange for empty promises. The United States must keep a military option on the table, making clear that if Iran crosses red lines, it will face devastating consequences.
Diplomatic measures must also be tightened: Iranian diplomats who serve as spies or agents for the regime's ideological mission should be expelled, embassies shuttered, and Iran's international presence curtailed. Equally important is supporting the Iranian people, many of whom have repeatedly risked their lives in protests calling for an end to clerical rule. The collapse of the regime from within is the only real long-term solution to the threat Iran poses to the world.
Europe, in particular, must step up. Too often, European governments have clung to illusions of moderation, prioritizing business deals and short-term stability over long-term security. Yet history shows what happens when fanatic ideologies are underestimated. The failure to confront Nazism in its early stages led to disaster for the entire continent. Today, Iran's leadership openly declares its intent to spread its revolution and to target Europe with missiles. To ignore such declarations would be an unforgivable mistake. The European Union must join the United States in imposing snapback sanctions at the United Nations, tightening its own economic restrictions, and treating Iran's regime as the pariah that it is.
Unfortunately, the Iranian regime's threats are not empty rhetoric. They are a continuation of a consistent ideological vision that has driven its policies since its Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran's leadership openly states that they seek not only the destruction of Israel but also the subjugation of the West (such as here and here). Iran's missile arsenal and naval drills show that it is actively preparing for this confrontation; its ambitions for nuclear weapons underscore the urgency.
The West must not turn a blind eye or entertain illusions of "moderation." Just as Europe once ignored Hitler's ideology at its peril, ignoring Iran's Islamist regime would be a historic mistake. The only path forward is to maintain relentless pressure, prepare militarily, support the Iranian people, and never allow this radical regime to realize its apocalyptic goals.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
