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Ali Khezrian is a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s legislative body, the Majles. Although the war has not been going well for the Islamic Republic, Khezrian views the current scene with confidence, and last Friday, he imparted that confidence to the embattled people of Iran, most of whom just want to be rid of the Islamic regime that has tyrannized their country for 47 years now.
As he did so, Khezrian warned that once its little problem with the United States was straightened out, the Islamic Republic would single out the United Arab Emirates for special punishment. His warning, however, rested on a number of assumptions of what Iran and the entire region will be like when the war is definitively over, and the facts may not bear out those assumptions.
Appearing on the Islamic Republic’s state-controlled Channel 3, Khezrian appeared supremely confident in adopting the role of an angry old-style schoolmarm about to mete out punishment to a recalcitrant pupil. Khezrian said that “in the past week, the Emiratis have learned many lessons. However, compared to what they are yet to learn, the lessons they were taught so far are like preschool versus academic studies.”
The forthcoming lessons would not be pleasant for the UAE: “They will be taught more lessons, by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the resistance forces. This is only the beginning. Therefore, they should catch their breath, get ready, and make use of the ceasefire, because the Islamic Republic of Iran is not done with them. The Emiratis are at the start of their learning curve. You shall see that they will definitely be taught another lesson.”
As Islamic jihadis and supremacists always do, Khezrian blamed the victim, accusing the Emiratis of wishing to “escalate the tension in the region, in cahoots with the Zionists, because for the Emiratis, this has become an existential matter.” He concluded: “They know that when the Islamic Republic of Iran emerges from this war, and the Americans are driven out of the region, [Iran] will put them through hell. Iran will not just let go of the UAE, and they know it.”
Threat noted. That threat, however, was based on Khezrian’s assumption that the U.S. would be “driven out of the region.” That is unlikely, but it is not at all unlikely that the Americans will leave before the Iranian threat is fully neutralized. This could happen because President Trump and his team calculate that the political cost of continuing the hostilities is too high, or if the Democrats win control of Congress in 2026 and the presidency in 2028, and resume their previous policy of appeasing and paying off the Islamic Republic rather than confronting it.
Islamic jihadis are aware that they are fighting a 1,400-year-old war to conquer and Islamize the world, and that we are not. If they suffer a few setbacks now, they know to be patient and trust in Allah. Our wars, on the other hand, must be over before the next election cycle, or before the new administration takes office. We lingered long in both Iraq and Afghanistan with no clear purpose or goal, and now the fact of those catastrophically wrongheaded and mishandled interventions prevents many from seeing clearly when it is important to respond to a serious threat.
To be sure, we should not either send ground troops to Iran or get involved in another futile project of Bushian nation-building. However, it must be recognized that Khezrian is telling the truth: the Islamic Republic will count the war won if it simply survives, and if the U.S. leaves the region with the mullahs still in power. Then it will begin rebuilding and pursue its goals once again down the road. The only way that the Islamic Republic of Iran can be prevented from wreaking vengeance upon the U.S., and continuing its jihad against the U.S. and Israel, is by being toppled from power.
If the Islamic Republic remains in power, it will continue its belligerent actions, because its leaders believe those acts to be the will of Allah. The UAE will indeed be “put through hell” — unless there is no Islamic Republic to rain hell upon the Emiratis.
Photo credit: Mostafa Tehrani at Wikimedia Commons.
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