The United States is well aware, or should be at the very least, that the body count of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) over the past few decades far exceeds the likes of the Taliban, the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and others.
We're talking about north of a quarter-million people who had lost their lives in countless terrorist attacks in the past two decades, most of them in the Muslim world.
But even working together, the world’s top terrorist groups could never hold a candle to all the death, bloodshed and destruction the IRGC has wrought upon the world, both directly and indirectly.
Iran's Grim Reapers are involved in global terrorism, as well as in mass killings via groups operating under its auspices, guidance and funding, such as the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and sundry pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. Some of their actions were even directed at the United States itself.
And yet, Washington seems all too willing to remove the world’s most murderous group from its terrorist list.
Since 2007, the U.S. Congress has repeatedly debated whether to include the IRGC in the county’s list of terrorist entities. In 2008, Sen. John McCain accused presidential opponent Barack Obama of opposing a bill pertaining to the matter.
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Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commanders talk while unveiling a new drone called 'Gaza'
(Photo: AFP)
The bill ultimately passed in the Senate with a majority of 76-22. Among those who opposed the bill was good ol' Joe Biden, who then served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. By the way, Hillary Clinton supported the bill.
However, despite the IRGC further extending its tendrils during Obama's tenure, it was the Trump administration that slapped the group with the terror label in 2019.
The United States is undoubtedly a great ally to Israel but the West's incessant attempts to placate Tehran are disturbing.
European countries are funding organizations that oppose the very existence of Israel or engage in the demonization of the Jewish State.
And the United States, meanwhile, is leading an obsequious agreement that would effectively give Tehran the go-ahead to press on with its subversive tactics which cause mass death and humanitarian catastrophes wherever they are employed.
Does the soaring demand for oil amid the Russo-Ukrainian war justify capitulating to Iran? Definitely not. After all, Washington was adamant on signing an agreement even before the Russian invasion began.
A draft of the agreement has been ready for many weeks now. But the agreement hasn't been signed yet because, according to the Russian envoy at the talks, the Iranians are fighting for every minutia.
They sense weakness and therefore allow themselves to make more and more demands.
Rumor has it that Iran is willing to tone down the IRGC's activities in return for the group’s removal from the terrorist list.
Such a promise by Teheran is not unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vow not to invade Ukraine. But as former Obama adviser Dennis Ross said, it's like taking Putin's word he will not invade Ukraine.
So, what is there to do? During his term as prime minister, a spirited and determined Benjamin Netanyahu proved that locking horns with the White House causes more harm than good, so criticism of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's weak condemnation of the move is a bit detached from the facts.
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World powers meet with Iranian officials in Vienna to discuss a return to the 2015 nuclear deal
(Photo: Reuters)
So, what can be done? Some voices within the U.S. Congress have already vehemently torched both the nuclear deal in general and the Biden administration's surrender vis-à-vis the IRGC in particular. It remains to be seen if pressure from within would be of any help.
To paraphrase the great late Winston Churchill, the U.S. was given the choice between war and dishonor. It might choose dishonor and it will have war.