On Iran’s Threats

The truth about why we're at war

Iran: “Death to Israel! Death to America!”

Israel: …

Iran: “Also we’re building nuclear weapons.”

Israel: “You can’t do that. We’re going to stop you.”

Iran: “If you hit us, we’ll attack American military bases.”

Israel: “Okay, America, just so you know, they’re threatening to hit you if we act.”

America: “Wait, so if Israel defends itself, Iran attacks us?”

Iran: “Yes.”

America: “So we get attacked either way because you decided that?”

Iran: “Correct.”

America: “Then we’re not waiting around to get hit.”

*America and Israel attack Iran.

Iran and Co: “How dare you escalate! This is a violation of international law!”

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We need to understand something simple here.

When Iran says “If Israel strikes us, we will attack American bases,” then the responsibility for those attacks belongs to Iran. Not to Israel or the United States.

Iranian officials openly warned that if their country is attacked they would target U.S. bases across the region, and during the current conflict Iran has in fact launched hundreds of missiles and drones at American positions in Gulf states along with other regional targets.

The argument some commentators are making is that the United States should simply accept that threat and restrain Israel. In other words, Iran gets to announce that it will attack American forces if Israel defends itself, and the correct response from Washington is supposed to be submission.

That is blackmail.

Accepting that logic would mean allowing hostile regimes to dictate American foreign policy simply by threatening violence. If a government can say “If you or your ally act, we will attack your soldiers,” and the United States must therefore stand down, then deterrence is gone and intimidation becomes the organizing principle of international relations.

Imagine the same logic applied elsewhere. If North Korea announced that it would attack American bases unless South Korea surrendered, would anyone argue that the correct response is to pressure Seoul into submission? Would we blame South Korea for “provoking” Pyongyang if North Korea followed through on its threat? Of course not. The responsibility would obviously lie with the regime making the threat.

Iran’s leadership made a deliberate choice to tie American targets to Israel’s actions. That was not forced on them. It was a strategic decision designed to deter Israel by threatening the United States. If those attacks happen, they will happen because Iran chose to make them happen.

The same voices who constantly insist that American foreign policy is somehow “controlled by Israel” suddenly lose interest when an actual regime openly tries to dictate U.S. policy through threats and intimidation. When Tehran says it will attack American forces if Israel acts, the response from those commentators is not outrage at Iran. Instead they begin lecturing Israel about why it should stand down.

Notice how selective the concern about foreign influence becomes.

Reports have indicated that Saudi Arabia was also privately urging the United States to strike Iran. Governments lobby Washington all the time. They advocate for policies that serve their interests. But that never becomes a grand scandal or proof that American policy is controlled by Riyadh.

Because that is not the story certain commentators want to tell.

For people like Tucker Carlson, the only country whose influence ever seems to matter is Israel. Every decision is filtered through that lens. If the United States takes action that Israel also supports, it becomes evidence of Israeli manipulation. Meanwhile every other country lobbying Washington, threatening Washington, or attempting to shape American policy simply disappears from the narrative.

I have no idea why Tucker is doing this, although it is difficult to ignore the financial ecosystem that rewards this kind of provocation. In the end the motive is less important than the result.

The result is that millions of Americans are being given a distorted picture of reality, one in which the regime openly threatening American soldiers fades into the background while Israel is framed as the real problem.

The American people deserve better than that.

They deserve to know who is making threats, who is carrying them out, and who is responsible for the consequences. Only then can they decide for themselves what their country should do.