Since the Iranian sponsored assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador to the United States was revealed to the public, I have been struck by the commentary and conventional wisdom in the media that has downplayed the likelihood of the attack. Despite the evidence laid out by the Justice Department and the FBI, some pundits have suggested that the attack would have been impossible to pull off and expressed shock that Iran would consider using Mexican drug cartels for a terrorist attack on American soil.
Presumably these same “experts” never would have imagined that jihadists would use airplanes as missiles to attack America on Sept. 11, 2001. Indeed this was the very conclusion reached by the 9/11 Commission Report:
“Across the government, there were failures of imagination, policy, capabilities, and management. The most important failure was one of imagination. We do not believe leaders understood the gravity of the threat.”
As chairman of the Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, one of my aims has been to ensure our government does not return to a pre-9/11 mind-set of failing to imagine threats to the homeland.
Soon after the Saudi plot was disclosed, we held a joint hearing in Congress on the threat posed by Iranian terror operations in the United States. The Iranian regime crossed a red line in its recent plot and there must be a serious, imaginative response by the U.S. government.
For decades, the conventional wisdom regarding Iran was that although the regime supports terrorism throughout the world and works against American interests, Iran would never strike the U.S. homeland unless provoked by a U.S. or Israeli attack on their nuclear facilities. It now appears this consensus has been wrong.
While the focus since 9/11 has rightly been on al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups, debate about Iran’s capability and intent to threaten us at home has sat on the back burner. This must change.
Despite U.S. and international sanctions, Iran has not been deterred. The United States, in conjunction with our allies, must embark on a resolute and coordinated approach to alter Iran’s calculus in supporting its illicit nuclear program, its sponsorship of terrorism, and its evasion of sanctions.
A report released this week from the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed evidence that there are military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program, including experimentation on the design and development of a nuclear warhead.
If we cannot deter Iran’s actions now, the thought of Iran with a nuclear weapon — the ultimate deterrent — is unimaginable. We must use all the tools we have — including diplomatic, economic, military and intelligence capabilities — to refocus, reformulate, and respond to Iran’s provocations.
We should start by sanctioning Iran’s central bank, robbing its oil industry of the ability to conduct financial transactions internationally. Iranian government leaders and those affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force should be banned from international travel.
The Quds Force should be designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Department of State and should be a target for covert action. We should work with allies to enhance customs enforcement on Iran’s procurement and customs violations, enhance intelligence sharing and covert operations with Israel against Iran’s nuclear program, and aggressively support Iranian civilians promoting a democratic Iran.
Iran is openly pursuing a nuclear weapon. A regime that denies one Holocaust while admittedly planning another must not be ignored. If we fail to comprehend and effectually respond to this latest Iranian plot against the U.S. homeland, we underestimate the Iranian regime at our peril.
Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
