Please do not think that just because Iran took a few hits in June that their threat is over, or that the Iranian regime has learned its lesson or is going to change. Iran's is not a normal political system that responds to diplomacy as other governments do. Iran's regime is fundamentalist -- built on a radical ideological foundation. Iran's regime defines its very existence by confrontation, expansion and violence.
The Islamic Republic is not merely a government; it is a revolutionary movement wrapped in the structure of a state. Its leadership does not operate by the logic of "compromise" or "coexistence" but by the logic of domination and destruction.
The Iranian regime's animating belief is that it was divinely chosen to challenge and replace the global order, to export its ideology beyond its borders, and to destroy those it considers its ultimate enemies—Israel, Jews and the United States. To expect moderation from such a regime is to misunderstand its deepest nature, its DNA.
Recently, Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, revealed that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has built a vast global terror network, orchestrating the targeting of Jews and Israelis around the world. This network, directed by the IRGC's Quds Force, was reportedly overseen by one of its senior commanders, Sardar Ammar. Under his command, Iranian operatives and recruited proxies have plotted or attempted attacks on multiple continents, including Europe, Asia, and South America.
The network often operates through cutouts — local criminals, mercenaries and radicals — so Tehran can deny direct involvement. The strategy is insidious: to spread terror through surrogates while officially maintaining plausible deniability on the world stage. These plots have included the surveillance of Jewish community centers, attempts to bomb Israeli embassies, and targeting Jewish community leaders in several countries. The Mossad's exposure of this network is a bracing reminder that Iran's global campaign of terror is alive, active, and getting bigger.
When Iranian leaders say that Israel "will not exist in 25 years," they mean it. When they boast that their missiles can reach Europe or the United States, they mean it. The Iranian regime's rhetoric is not propaganda meant for domestic consumption—it is an open declaration of its plans. Every statement about wiping Israel off the map or about missiles that can target Western capitals reflects a serious, deliberate, long-term strategy. Iran has built and maintained an entire state apparatus around this goal: its military, intelligence, economy, and education system are all shaped to advance this ideological mission.
Iran's leadership views itself as the vanguard of a global struggle between the "pure" Shia Islamic revolution and the "corrupt" Western order. The West's mistake for four decades has been to treat this rhetoric as fanciful talk, when in fact it is a window into the regime's worldview and a roadmap for its actions.
Despite the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran, the regime is now aggressively rebuilding its ballistic missile program. It is not doing this alone. China, Russia and North Korea are all aiding Iran, directly or indirectly, in evading sanctions and acquiring the materials, technology and expertise necessary to advance its weapons programs. North Korea has long served as a model and a partner for Iran in ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development, while China and Russia provide diplomatic cover, technology, and economic lifelines. Through oil deals, shadow banking networks, and illicit trade routes, these countries help Tehran grow stronger and survive. The result is a dangerous, expanding axis of anti-Western powers determined to challenge the liberal world order.
The Iranian regime wants nuclear weapons now more than ever. Facing internal unrest, economic pressure and international isolation, the regime still views nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantor of its survival and of its ability to dominate the region and beyond. Possessing such weapons would not only deter foreign intervention but also allow it to blackmail its neighbors to reshape the Middle East on its own terms. Imagine a scenario in which Iran can load a nuclear warhead onto one of its long-range ballistic missiles — a missile capable of reaching Israel, Europe, or soon even the United States. This is the outcome that the regime has been working toward for decades.
Unlike most nations, Iran's goal is not security through deterrence but power through fear. Its ideological mission — to export its Islamic revolution, to dominate the Middle East, and to challenge the West — would be vastly amplified by the possession of nuclear arms.
For more than 40 years, Iran's brutal dictatorship has proven extraordinarily resilient. Every time it is cornered, it adapts and reemerges more defiant. It manipulates divisions among Western governments, exploits their desire for diplomacy and buys time to rebuild. Iran's regime, playing the long game, examines the psychology of its adversaries and sees that democratic societies tire quickly of conflict and prefer the illusion of peace. While the West celebrates short-term victories, Tehran quietly rearms, reconstitutes its forces, and strikes again when the world's attention shifts elsewhere.
This pattern has repeated itself for decades. It is precisely because of its ideological discipline and ruthless control over its population that the regime endures. It murders, tortures and silences its citizens to maintain power; it uses religion to justify oppression; and it funds terrorism abroad to keep its revolution alive.
Let us not sit comfortably believing that all is well, that the regime will somehow evolve into a peaceful actor. Iran's regime is not just an enemy of its own people — it is an enemy of freedom, modernity and humanity itself. It has survived because the world has allowed it to survive. It has exploited every pause, every negotiation and every concession. It has turned Western diplomacy into a weapon of delay and opportunity. It will continue to do so until it is confronted with the one language it understands: sustained pressure, isolation and the credible threat of force.
We must not allow Iran to regain its footing, to rise again and plot another tragedy like 9/11 or a catastrophic nuclear event targeting Jews, Americans, or any other people.
The world must finish the job — through unrelenting, coordinated pressure on every front: political, economic and military. The European Union must stop all trade that provides Iran with hard currency. China and Russia must face consequences for undermining sanctions and enabling Iran's militarization. The United States and its allies must make clear that any further advances in Iran's nuclear or ballistic missile programs will be met with swift, crippling military responses. Diplomatic isolation must become total; embassies closed, envoys recalled and trade channels severed. At the same time, the free world must openly support the Iranian people, who seek genuine regime change, as well as others in the region — especially Iraqis — who seek freedom from Tehran's interference. Iran's regime survives by convincing the world that it cannot be replaced. That illusion must be shattered.
Please let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that the Iranian regime is finished or has moderated. It is still plotting, still financing anti-American and antisemitic terror operations across the world, and, behind closed doors, still advancing its nuclear ambitions. Before the world wakes up to yet another devastating act of terrorism, nuclear or not, we must increase pressure on Iran — the only language it understands — until its machinery of terror collapses. The free world has a moral and strategic duty not to let Iran's weapons of mass destruction threaten all of us again.
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
