The Iran Deal: The Elephant in the Room

American Thinker ^ | 22 Jun, 2026 | Lewis Dovland

[MtnClimber]

The Iranian threat will continue until the nature of Shi'ite religious extremism is recognized.

Much of the celebration surrounding the latest agreement with Iran pigeonholes a fundamental issue -- one that, if left unaddressed, will ultimately render any agreement temporary at best and meaningless at worst.

The problem is not simply Iran's nuclear capabilities. Nor is it the wording of any diplomatic arrangement. The problem is the belief system that guides the ruling clerical regime itself.

Before proceeding, it is worth acknowledging what has already been accomplished. President Trump deserves considerable credit for applying pressure on Iran, weakening its ability to fund proxy organizations such as Hezb'allah and Hamas, reducing attacks against Israel and Gulf Arab states, and severely degrading Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Those are significant achievements that enhance regional and global security.

Yet these successes address symptoms rather than the underlying disease.

Western policymakers often approach Iran as though they are dealing with a conventional nation-state pursuing conventional interests. They assume that economic incentives, military deterrence, and diplomatic negotiations can alter Tehran's long-term behavior. That assumption may be flawed because it overlooks the ideological framework through which Iran's rulers view the world. So far, Iran has complied not out of agreement, but to avoid further pain. Which is not a long-term solution.

Iran is governed by a Shia Islamist regime. More specifically, its ruling clerics largely adhere to the Twelver branch of Shiite Islam. Twelvers believe in the eventual return of the Twelfth Imam, known as the Mahdi, who is expected to establish justice and righteousness before the end of history. This is not a criticism of the Muslim faith but to point out an important factor in these negotiations.

There is considerable debate among scholars regarding the political implications of Twelver theology. However, it is undeniable

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: cartersfolly; notawar; specialmilitaryop; trump

[SaveFerris]

Because ... 12th Imam Mahdi and all that jive...

Shia (Shiite) Islam Twelfth Imam Mahdi (D-Qom, Iran)

(The apocalyptic vision of Iran’s ruling mullahs (clerics and Supreme Leader) is rooted in Twelver Shia eschatology—the dominant branch of Shia Islam in Iran—and centers on actively preparing for and hastening the return of the “Hidden Imam,” or Mahdi (the 12th Imam)

The Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, Iran - 12th Imam Mahdi
is in the well behind the Mosque reading
their prayer requests (they believe)

BTW, he's a five (5) year-old-kid; DEAD for 1,152+ years (873–874 A.D.)



[All pictures are posted for Educational Purposes
in accordance with Fair Use]

[frog in a pot]

It is WE who need to pull our heads out and realize this, and act accordingly.

Quite right.

The difficulty is that "we" have become civilized and are not at all as willing or eager to take decisive, brutal action.

We are reminded on a regular basis of the "excessive" bombing of Germany and Japan, especially the "criminal" use of the atomic bomb.

Our government has apologized for the "horrible" internment of citizens if Japanese ancestry even though at the time it seemed, even to Democrats, and likely was essential for our national security.

[Reily]

Except the Japanese internment really was a travesty! There was virtually no pro-Tokyo activity by Japanese-Americans. Compare it with things like the German-American Bund, etc. No camps for German-Americans or Italian-Americans! Just looking at actions and not words from politicians the primary motivation seemed to have been to seize prime California agricultural land and property on the cheap. Very few Japanese-Americans got their land or property back and what compensation there was, was pennies on the dollar. The later 1970s-1980s compensation was $25k, another joke considering how that land and property had increased in value in 30+ years.

[PeterPrinciple]

Except the Japanese internment really was a travesty!

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The Japanese govt demanded the protection and return of their citizens. We did the same for Americans in Japan.

Japan rounded up all our citizens and put them in camps.

You have just been told one side of the story.

There was an exchange of citizens. It took a while to sort it out. The travesty is the way Japan did it.

[frog in a pot]

It was the Japanese that cowardly attacked Pearl Harbor and killed American citizens, barreled through the South Pacific killing citizens and American service members and shelled southern California.

The internment not only tended to improve national security it protected innocent citizens from the wrath of other Americans who had recently lost family members.

Very few Japanese-Americans got their land or property back and what compensation there was, was pennies on the dollar.
I will agree that was a travesty and charge both Dems and R's.

[Reily]

Now I know both sides of the story well! In the panic of war poor decisions get made. Later making the victims of those poor decisions whole is the honest and just thing to do. Again the real proof of the motivation is what happened to Japanese-American property and the lack of an honest effort to return it or give just honest compensation.

[FreedomPoster]

Carter rarely failed to favor evil totalitarians.

[Reily]

Agree partially but I think the security improvement was at best marginal. Hoover even thought the internment was unjustified. He claimed to have already broken what little pro-Tokyo activity there was. (Yes he could have been lying!)

I still say seizing Japanese-American property and land was the motivation. Governor Warren (later CJ USSC and GOP*) and political cronies wanted that land. Remember in those days California was a rich agricultural state not an industrial one. That land was very very valuable! FDR also had political reasons to placate them and not examine their motives closely.

* Some people say Warren’s later leadership as CJ and leftist rulings were an effort to ease his conscience over his actions in regard to Japanese-American property.

[frog in a pot]

In the panic of war poor decisions get made.

That statement is certainly true whether or not "panic" is involved. That does not, however, support the conclusion that internment was a poor decision.

This thread is about the existential threat posed by radical muslins; in that context, making no decision or generally refusing to confront the threat is generally just as bad as making a poor decision.

[FreedomPoster]

>Except the Japanese internment really was a travesty!

Hate America Democrats would have you believe that, and convinced many.

The truth was otherwise.

The truth is that because of MAGIC code breaking and intelligence intercepts, we knew of Americans of Japanese descent who were actively feeding intelligence back to Japan. And the only way to stop that, without giving away that we had broken their codes, was the mass internments.

Now you can argue that doing this was wrong. But you cannot argue that doing this had no underlying logic in the context of a war many saw as existential.

Magic: The Untold Story of U.S. Intelligence and the Evacuation of Japanese Residents from the West Coast During Ww II
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960273611

[Lurker]

It’s not just Shia islam.

It’s all islam.

L

[Alas Babylon!]

I’ve said it more than once. Few American leaders have done much about Iran except cower and beg.

Review the history!

From a military standpoint, Carter tried to rescue the hostages but got the Desert One disaster, thus ending any other attempt to get our people back from this blatant act of war by the Mullahs. Reagan tried in the Persian Gulf, and had some success, but after the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner by mistake in 1988 not much else happened.

GHW Bush ignored Iran to take on Iraq, Clinton did NOTHING. Dubya Bush legitimately focused on Afghanistan (Al Qaeda harborers)and Iraq but got lost in the nation building. Obama paid them off out of hopium and Mullah love, while letting Iran’s detain 10 U.S. sailors and their two Riverine boats. We had to beg for their return in yet another humiliation that Obama was famous for (Benghazi, Syria’s red line, tell Vlad I can’t do nothing until after the election). Biden didn’t do a damn thing but free them further by deserting Afghanistan and Israel for Ukraine.

Trump was the first president to strike them back, not once but twice.

Do you remember the strike and killing of Salami, their top IRGC commander? Yup, Trump 1.0. The B-2 bombers that hit their nuclear bomb facility in 2025? Trump 2.0

Think about it. The countries constant hate and even war on us was never truly answered until Donald J. Trump.

[Reily]

I’ve read that book and I’ve read several biographies on Hoover and several on US WWII CI activities in North and South America. Those books do say Hoover was convinced he had Japanese espionage problems under control. In short they contradict the Magic book. Who to believe?

If there really was a good military reason why the permanent seizure of property? Why not put it in trust for after the war when it can be returned? Why the amnesia that it happened until the 1970s-1980s? To me actions by politicians of that era present a better argument for it being done to seize land then for military reasons.

[USS Alaska]

The Iranian threat will continue until the nature of Shi'ite religious extremism is recognized.

Mr. Dovland seems to think that only he understands the shia radical mooselimb terrorists.

Trump knows it, his team knows it and many FReepers know it.

TV talking heads don't know the difference between shia and sunni muzzies and have no interest in learning, yet they offer their "opinions" constantly.

For anyone that has not read the koran, I don't want to hear anything they have to say about that gutter religion.

[logi_cal869]

Someone finally addresses the core issues (of which one would hope that this administration is well schooled)...

...and I hoped that we’d have both armed the Iranian people and worked to prevent their slaughter after hammering their nukular sites.

IMHO their slaughter spelled the failure of this administration’s Iran ‘policy’ (ahem, whatever that is).

I now don’t believe that POTUS has the stomach for what’s needed to fix what they broke, and nothing will ever change until the Iranian people rise up (they have good reason not to).

[OldGoatCPO]

So locking American citizens in concentration camps is good? If you weren’t being sarcastic you are sorely ignorant of who and why they were interred. The most decorated Army unit in Europe were taken from those camps. Why did 44 of 48 States and neither territories refuse to participate in the concentration camps. Land worth billions today was just taken and sold by banks. Those who were lucky to sell before being arrested sold their land for 10 cents on the dollar By the time we finally awarded them 45,000 in compensation many were long dead.

[frog in a pot]

So locking American citizens in concentration camps is good? If you weren’t being sarcastic you are sorely ignorant of who and why they were interred.

Get a grip, chief. Nowhere did I say locking American citizens in concentration camps was good, only that under the circumstances it appeared essential - for two reasons.

Beyond security reasons, how do you suppose military-aged males with Japanese ancestors would have felt walking around California with its heavy military population during early WWII? Do you think there might have been property damage and injuries suffered by their parents?

With the clarity of hindsight, one may disagree with that wartime decision.

Note also I distinguished between the internment and the deprivation of property without due process - two different issues and two different arguments.

[Time_Has_Come]

The Shah had to lead a nation in the middle east surrounded by Soviet allies in the peak of the cold war. No nation in that region (Israel included) had a human rights record that we would, applying today’s standards, approve of.

But to compare the Shah, who killed fewer than 5,000 people over 37 years, to the IRGC, which kills that many in an afternoon, is profoundly inaccurate.

Also, the Shah cared about Iran, her history, and her language.

The IRGC has openly stated that it does not care about Iran, and is seeking a pan-Shiite kingdom that will bring about Armageddon. To that end, they are importing mercenaries and “theology students” (often those wo are synonymous) from all over the middle east, Africa, India, even Latin America.

Read my profile for information the MSM won’t tell you about the IRGC.

[Fledermaus]

Ridiculous

[FreedomPoster]

Hoover the cross-dressing megalomaniacal freak was all about generating positive press for Hoover. OF COURSE he had it “under control”.

LOLOLOL

I am not asserting internment and such as a means of dealing with the problem was handled well. I am asserting there were legitimate reasons something needed to be done, which you seem to disagree with.

I’m not sure you did read MAGIC, or at least not the voluminous attachments of official documents in the appendices, that strongly back up the text.