Tom Friedman of the New York Times wrote an instructive piece about the rogue state of Iran and its intentions moving forward. It’s about time a columnist on the left called out the ayatollahs for what they really are. Re-negotiating the Obama nuclear deal with Iran is not the best course for the new administration. Certainly, Friedman thinks not. I think it is idiocy.

It appears that Iran is still far from building a deliverable nuclear weapon, although it is difficult to be sure given all the secrecy surrounding the program. The continued assassinations of Iran’s nuclear scientists by Israel will serve to delay the schedule to an extent.

It’s a goal of the country’s leadership to have a WMD because the threat of a bomb would enable it to intimidate their neighbors in the Middle East. Friedman says the ayatollahs would never actually use it because Israel would retaliate and obliterate its mortal enemy. But why take this chance?

“The Iranian Air Force launched drones and precision-guided cruise missiles at Saudi Arabia’s most important oil fields and processing centers [several week ago] causing huge damage.” The Israelis called the attack a “Middle East Pearl Harbor.”  Neither the US, Saudi Arabia nor the UAE responded in kind. Unbelievably, not one country returned fire.

“The US did nothing.” Trump wants the Saudis to pay the US to respond militarily. This was part of his strategy to let the Arabs fight it out without US interference, right or wrong. This action will likely cause Israel and Saudi Arabia to increase their ties against a common enemy.

Bibi Netanyahu has already visited the Saudi Arabian leadership. These countries and other Gulf states will surely have a lot to say about Biden’s reported plans to re-establish a relationship with Iran, by easing sanctions and re-upping to the flawed nuclear deal.

Another point Friedman emphasizes is the development of precision-guided missiles, a more likely weapon to use, as opposed to initiating a nuclear Holocaust with a WMD. In the past, Iran provided missiles to terrorist organizations and countries surrounding Israel. They were inaccurate and did little damage. The Iranians proved that their precision missile are very accurate, and if unleashed on any of their enemies, they can create havoc.

Iran is a menace. The ayatollahs cannot be trusted. The leaders want to dominate the Muslim world, eliminate Israel and diminish the US presence in the region. The question is what kind of weapons will they use to try to achieve their goals?

Biden should play tough with Iran, increase sanctions and push for regime change. There will be no peace in the Middle East, so long as Iran has the money to build new armaments. The US need to be diligent about any effort to produce a nuke.