Don’t defend the malicious incompetence of Iran’s regime

The U.S. government confirmed Thursday that the crash of Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 out of Tehran amid United States-Iranian tensions had not been a mere coincidence. Rather, Iran launched surface-to-air missiles and downed the commercial passenger flight taking off from its own main airport, killing more than 80 Iranians, Ukrainians, and more than five dozen Canadians.

The Iranian regime at first tried to cover up this senseless slaughter by quickly clearing up and hiding the debris, then refused to hand over the plane’s black box. But they weren’t clever enough. U.S. and Canadian intelligence operatives caught them in the act of locking the target with radar and launching two missiles that brought it down.

This event has inspired shameful partisanship among Trump’s critics. Pete Buttigieg, for one, blamed the U.S. for somehow making Iran commit this utterly needless atrocity by creating a “tit for tat.” Others blamed “crossfire.” Yet it is not “crossfire” when Iran launches missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq, the U.S. does not strike back, and then Iran fires missiles at a civilian aircraft. In reality, this ought to come as a wake-up call to the world about the monsters who run Iran’s regime. This doesn’t mean launching a war to remove them, but Buttigieg and the others who constantly make excuses for the mullahs’ behavior need to stop deluding themselves about Iran’s suitability as a partner in foreign affairs.

One would expect at least a bit more competence from a regime the various proxies of which are currently conducting elaborate terrorist operations or fomenting civil wars in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Yemen, and elsewhere. You would think a regime that ambitiously plots to assassinate people with bombs in downtown Washington, D.C., would at least be able to avoid shooting down passenger airlines taking off and landing at their own airports. But no. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, all of the capable people are apparently either arrested, forced to live in fear, or else sent elsewhere to break things and kill people.

This essentially sums up how Iran works. A ridiculously large share of its government budget is tied up in either arresting and torturing Iranians for morality offenses, including drinking, homosexuality, and women letting their headscarves slip, or else causing death and mayhem in other countries through proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi forces in Yemen, and various Iraqi militias. In addition to its violent paramilitary activities in the nations mentioned above, Iran’s regime spends a fortune spreading its propaganda in the West, paying Western journalists and politicians, such as Jeremy Corbyn, through a fake television network known as Press TV.

As they do all this, Iran’s leaders utterly mismanage domestic affairs to the point of food and medicine shortages. This situation lately sent Iranians out into the streets, chanting, “No to Gaza, no to Lebanon,” “Leave Syria and think of us,” and even, “Death to Palestine,” not unlike when Americans protest foreign wars and demand the government mind the situation at home.

Iran’s regime reacted to these protests by abruptly cutting off the country’s internet access, killing 1,500 people for the mere act of protesting against the regime’s malicious incompetence. To Buttigieg and others, just keep in mind that these are the people you’re helping when you go blaming America for their crimes.