It’s Time to Make Iran Think Twice About Harming U.S. Citizens

Iran appears to have declared open season on U.S. citizens that it doesn’t like. The Aug. 12 stabbing of the author, Salman Rushdie, in Upstate New York was just the latest in a string of recent attempts targeting Americans known to be on Iran’s kill list. Yet, President Biden has no evident plan, or even intention, to hold the Tehran regime accountable. To deter future attempts, demonstrate resolve and establish U.S. credibility, he needs to retaliate kinetically.

Starting in 2021, and accelerating in recent weeks, Iran has been implicated in plots to kidnap and (a year later) kill the Iranian-American rights activist Masih Alinejad, assassinate former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton and murder Rushdie — all on American soil. Tehran has denied its involvement in all three incidents…

Michael Makovsky, a former Pentagon official, is President and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). John Hannah, a former national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, is the Randi and Charles Wax Senior Fellow at JINSA.