Biden and Harris Said “Don’t.” Iran and Its Proxies Did Anyway

As the likelihood of Joe Biden retaining the White House declines, the likelihood of Iran and other geopolitical foes exploiting their narrowing window of opportunity proportionally increases.  

That means a more dangerous world for America and its allies in coming months.  

Although Biden routinely casts himself as some sort of internationally respected leader, nearly four years of experience show the converse to be true.  

Biden’s catastrophically incompetent Afghanistan withdrawal brought a dawn of worsening global chaos, from Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to Hamas’s unprecedented assault against Israel.  

In the immediate wake of that October 7 assault, recall that Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris offered a one-word admonition to potential adversaries contemplating escalation:  “Don’t.”  

Well, they went ahead and did anyway.  

Iran’s Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon immediately commenced attacks on Israel’s northern end, which remains a potential point of full-scale war to this day.  

Then, Iran did the previously unthinkable by openly attacking Israel from its own territory for the first time in history.  

Elsewhere, ragtag Houthi militants shut down commercial shipping through the Red Sea with attacks that continue to this day.  That has diverted an entire U.S. Navy carrier group to the area at a time of elevated global chaos when they’re desperately needed to contain powerful navies of nations like Russia and China.  

Then this week, we learned of an Iranian threat on an even higher level of menace.  

Namely, the U.S. Secret Service acknowledged that it received credible intelligence in recent weeks that Iran was plotting to assassinate Donald Trump, separate from last weekend’s assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.  

Accordingly, instead of stopping Iran in its tracks, the “Don’t” from Biden and Harris had the opposite effect and was followed by escalation that previously seemed unthinkable.  

In contrast, compare how resolute Biden was in commanding Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu not to forcefully retaliate against Iran following its assault.  

According to the sympathetic New York Times, which prefers to prop up Joe Biden rather than undermine him, he refused to support a proportionate Israeli response to Iran’s massive attack.  “If you launch a big attack on Iran,” Biden told him, “you’re on your own.”  When Netanyahu, who truly does face existential threats against the nation he leads, insisted that deterring future Iranian attacks demanded a stronger response, Biden replied, “You do this, and I’m out.”  

As reported by The Times of Israel, Netanyahu cancelled the planned response after that call with Biden.  

All of that followed Biden’s inexplicable decision to reverse President Trump’s program of strict sanctions against Iran, which had driven its oil export revenues – and thereby its ability to subsidize terrorist proxies like Hamas – toward zero.  Biden also resumed nuclear negotiations that have allowed Iran to advance its weaponization program, and went so far as to admonish European allies to refrain from tightening Iranian penalties for violating earlier commitments.  

Clearly, Biden prefers to stand more forcefully against America’s friends than its foes.  

Meanwhile, contrary to Biden supporters’ robotic attempts to cast Trump as some sort of Putin lapdog, Trump correctly pointed out during the June 27th debate that whereas Putin invaded other countries during the Obama administration and then again under Biden, he didn’t sack an inch of territory under Trump.  That reflects Biden’s weakness, whatever his delusions of international respect.  

Through it all, Biden continues to insist that he’s an unparalleled leader on the international stage, even descending into screaming the point at fellow Democrats in Congress during a bizarre conference call this week.  

Whether Biden’s self-aggrandizement reflects an attempt to cover an inferiority complex or he truly believes them to be true remains an interesting psychological question.  In either event, America’s adversaries measure him and his understudy Kamala Harris as weak and incompetent leaders unable or unwilling to stop them.  What should worry America and its friends across the globe is the likelihood that they’ll capitalize on whatever opportunity remains during their time in the White House.

Reprinted with permission from CFIF by Timothy H. Lee.