Iran: 'We Welcome War With the U.S.'

Last week, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sent four vessels to “harass” a U.S. warship near the Strait of Hormuz. A prim schoolmarm of a U.S. official called the Iranian action “unsafe and unprofessional.”

In reality, there was nothing “unprofessional” about it. The incident wasn’t about seafaring conduct -- it was a clear act of war.

The Iranian vessels harassed the USS Nitze, a destroyer, by “conducting a high speed intercept and closing within a short distance of Nitze, despite repeated warnings,” said the official. “The Iranian high rate of closure … created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation, including additional defensive measures by Nitze.”

USS Nitze changed course to get away from the Iranian vessels, but Iran’s message was clear: it has been on a war footing against the United States since 1979, and continues to be. The Iran nuclear deal has only emboldened it.

Iranian vessels now regularly confront U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf. The Obama administration has been deliberately hiding and downplaying these incidents.

Think about the enormity of that: the White House is misleading Americans into thinking that Obama successfully achieved rapprochement with Iran.

The details of Iran’s ongoing war activities against the United States are unknown to most Americans; the full, shocking story is in my new book, The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran. For years, Iranian leaders have engaged in extremely bellicose rhetoric against the U.S. On February 11, 2014, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian Chief of Staff Hassan Firouzabadi boasted:

Iran is prepared for the decisive war against the U.S. and the Zionist regime. … Iran has been making plans, conducting maneuvers, and preparing its forces for this battle for years now.

Such threats weren’t limited to Revolution Day. In a Friday sermon on February 21, 2014, the head of Iran’s influential twelve-member Guardian Council of the Constitution Friday worship, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, preached this:

The Imam Khomeini said that the U.S. is the Great Satan, and we expect [Iranian officials] to recognize the enemy. The U.S. is the Great Satan, yesterday and today ... While the enemy carries out ugly actions and says evil things, the Iranian nation has shown fervor and, with its enthusiastic turnout [a week and a half before, for the February 11 Revolution Day celebrations], made it known that it will not tolerate humiliation.

Jannati continued, thundering:

The first option on our table is "Death to America." The entire people’s slogan is "Death to America" ... Another option on our table is the defense of Palestine; other messages from the Iranian people to their officials are not to fear the enemy and not to fear death.

[The Americans] already want us to capitulate on the nuclear issue -- but on what basis are they interfering in Iran's affairs? If we let them, the Americans will destroy Islam and the Revolution, because they have no honor and no humanity ... See how they left the helpless people of Iraq. They carry out massacres in Palestine, and support takfiris who slaughter people.

(Takfir is the practice of declaring a Muslim who is considered to hold a heretical form of Islam to be a non-believer. Shi’ites often refer to Sunni jihadis astakfiris because they do not regard Shi’ites as true Muslims.)