Barely a year into his Presidency many historians (not press reporters, not political followers) will declare Iran as this administration’s major foreign policy failure. To recap, since President Obama took office Iran has:

Continued to ambitiously  pursue nuclear weapons

Assisted arming Yemeni rebels that has led to a shooting war in the region

Been expelled from Morocco for subversive activities

Assisted Afghan insurgents targeting US troops

Brutally suppressed a popular revolt

Called for and has directly threatened the stability of Saudi Arabia

Attempted to ship 500 tons of military hardware to Syria for use by Hizballah

Encouraged Hizballah targeting and logistical operations in Egypt

 To date, the administration’s idea of handling the threat Iran poses includes writing a letter, producing an outreach video, choosing “engagement” as its foreign policy, and mustering up a UN resolution condemning Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran is unabashedly throwing around its weight in a strategically important region and the administration chooses to do nothing except hope that a policy of engagement changes the current dynamic.

As one of this nation’s forefathers stated:

[I]t is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against the painful truth – and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts…Were we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, having ears, hear not the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For his part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, he was willing to know the whole truth – to know the worst and provide for it

Since this administration has been in office, we have seen what Iran has done to its own population when it dared to voice dissent. We have heard Iran threaten our regional allies with destabilization, violence, and even annihilation. Our eyes have seen and our ears have heard what the Iranian regime has done and continues to do, but we have done nothing to provide for that threat. By any objective measure, that constitutes a failure.

The question remains, what this failure will cost?

Brett McCrea