“In Tehran, the Iranians arrested an American press man,” Ronald Reagan recorded in his presidential diary on Feb. 1, 1987. “Took his passport, accused him of being Zionist spy & threw him in jail. He’s a Roman Catholic. I’m ready to kidnap the Khomeini.” In these, his private thoughts, Reagan expressed what it took to deal with the mullahs of Iran — and playing nice was not it.

Iran has been listed as a state sponsor of terrorism since the mid-1980s. Evidence that Tehran is avidly pursuing nuclear weapons has been piling up since 2002.

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