Following the ridiculous policy of Barack Obama, Joe Biden is trying to build a security model in the Middle East predicated on good relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

It’s a stupid strategy. It depends on changing the minds and the behavior of a country based on the slogan “Death to America.”

That’s not a tall order. It isn’t a stretch goal. It isn’t even shooting for the moon.

It’s nuts.

In pursuit of this goal, Obama and now Biden have poured billions of dollars into the coffers of the terrorism-supporting country, and in return, the world has gotten a lot more terrorism.  Iran sponsored the October 7th attacks, and since then, American troops and assets have been hit dozens of times by proxies funded and directed by the Iranian government.

The latest attacks getting attention are the ones in the Red Sea, which aren’t merely focused on America but on world trade. Yemen’s Houthis have been firing Iranian drones and missiles at both military and commercial shipping.

New tonight: An hours-long firefight involving U.S. commercial vessels in the Red Sea this weekend has left some U.S. officials frustrated by what they see as the Biden administration’s deliberate downplaying of a major threat to American forces. https://t.co/nmsKIGQSSy

— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) December 5, 2023

The latest attacks are simply a continuation and escalation of ones that have occurred for months, and there can be no doubt that the mastermind of this operation sits in Iran, not Yemen.

The US response?

What US response? The Biden Administration is so desperate to woo Iran’s theocratic leaders that no amount of provocation will get Biden to do much more than bomb a closet while denying that Iran is doing much that is wrong.

Two DOD insider sources told me today that the #Biden White House has placed (in the words of one) “every possible handcuff” on the DOD’s ability to respond to #Iran proxy attacks.

The scale & scope of these attacks are unprecedented — and we’re just taking the hits. Dangerous. https://t.co/ebbyoZluhT

— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) December 5, 2023

There have been attacks on US troops and assets in the Middle East as part of a coordinated campaign run by Iran, and the Biden Administration has, for the most part, just taken it. Iran has clearly assessed that the American hunting season is open.

No doubt, they think that failing to respond is showing “restraint,” and showing “restraint” is what the “adults in the room” are supposed to do.

Yeah, whatever. It’s a stupid strategy, one driven by the notion that implacable enemies like Iran can be appeased.

They cannot. They shout from the rooftops that they can’t be. They literally scream “Death to America,” and Biden pats them on the head.

For now, the U.S. has ramped up its rhetoric, with U.S. Central Command warning in a press release it was considering “all appropriate responses” and indicating it would ultimately hold Iran accountable.

“We have every reason to believe these attacks, while they were launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran,” Sullivan told reporters Monday, reiterating the Centcom statement.

Sullivan noted that U.S. officials are in talks with other countries about setting up “a maritime task force of sorts” involving the ships from partner nations, alongside U.S. ships, helping ensure “the safe passage of ships in the Red Sea.”

A similar task force already exists: Combined Maritime Forces, a 38-nation maritime partnership based in Bahrain focused on countering terrorism and piracy.

But former national security officials said the Biden administration needs to do more to deter the Houthis from attacking ships in the Red Sea — and other Iran-backed groups from launching additional attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.

“Near to immediate term, where are the strikes on [Houthi] targets?” wrote Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA official, on X. “Need to see this ASAP.”

Retired Vice Adm. John Miller, the former commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, said that “We are not taking this seriously,” adding that the attacks both at sea and in Iraq and Syria “have gone largely unanswered.”

“We’re not deterring anybody right now,” Miller said.

Press releases and task forces, along with a targeted reprisal or two and vague threats about holding Iran responsible, will stop nothing. Iran is at war with us in the gray zone, and unless we make them pay a high price, they will continue to be so.

Nobody doubts that a major war in the Middle East would be a very bad thing and that it should be avoided, but Biden’s inaction makes such a war more likely, not less. In the meantime, Biden’s policy is to throw money at Iran in the hope that greenbacks will shield us from their wrath. That sort of policy works with neutrals or allies, not avowed enemies.

Iran is an avowed enemy.

The geniuses in charge are the same ones who told us that Trump was going to start World War III by being too belligerent. Now that they are back in power they are starting World War III by being weak and ineffectual. They are pursuing the same policy in international relations that the Soros prosecutors are in domestic crime reduction: treat the bad guys better than the good guys.

It’s working out just as well on the international stage as it has in America’s cities. Chaos reigns.