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President Trump has made it clear: the only acceptable outcome in talks with Iran is the “total dismantlement” of its nuclear program. But let’s confront a critical question: is the potential for nuclear armament truly what renders Iran’s regime a global threat? Or is it the regime’s entrenched ideology and actions that have long endangered international security?

Because long before Iran even dreamed of a nuclear bomb, it built its regime on terror.

The 1979 Islamic Republic Constitution isn’t just a domestic legal framework — it’s a declaration of global jihad. The preamble lays out the obligation to “extend the sovereignty of God’s law throughout the world,” and Article 11 openly calls for unity among all Islamic nations, paving the way for a transnational Islamic government. Article 152 doubles down on this, committing the regime to support the “just struggles of the oppressed” — code for armed resistance groups aligned with Iran’s goals. This is not a state seeking peace; it’s a regime bound by its own foundational law to export its ideology — by any means necessary.

And they do. The Supreme Leader isn’t just a religious figure; he’s the unelected, absolute commander of Iran’s armed forces, judiciary, intelligence networks, and the terror-exporting IRGC and Quds Force. He doesn’t answer to the people — only to Allah, as defined by Sharia.

Just look at the track record.

On May 4, British police arrested eight men — seven of them Iranian nationals — in two counterterror raids. Five were reportedly plotting an imminent terrorist attack. The other three were arrested under the National Security Act on suspicion of working on behalf of a foreign state — Iran. UK authorities haven’t disclosed the targets, but it wouldn’t be the first time Iran’s regime used British soil to carry out assassinations.

Since 2022, British intelligence has foiled at least 20 Iranian-linked plots — most targeting Iranian dissidents and critics who thought they’d found safety in exile.

And that’s just the UK.

In the U.S., Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad was the target of not one but two plots: one to kidnap her and smuggle her to Venezuela, and another to assassinate her in Brooklyn — right outside her home.

In France, journalist Ruhollah Zam was lured to Iraq with false promises, kidnapped, smuggled back to Iran, tortured, and hanged. His only crime? Running a Telegram channel critical of the regime.

In Istanbul, Saeed Karimian, the founder of GEM TV, was gunned down in 2017. Turkish authorities quickly linked the hit to Iranian operatives targeting his satellite channel, which had become popular inside Iran for airing uncensored content.

In Germany, Iranian agents plotted to kill dissident rapper Shahin Najafi for his music. In Canada, they surveilled targets for potential attacks. And in London, staff at Iran International — a critical Persian-language news outlet — had to relocate under police protection due to credible Iranian threats.

Just to name a few.

These are not outlier cases. They are a pattern — a strategy. This regime sends bullets where it can’t send ballots. It sends hitmen where it fears headlines. It uses embassies like war rooms and diplomacy like camouflage.

Iranian diplomatic facilities have repeatedly been implicated in terrorism and intelligence operations. In 2018, an Iranian diplomat based in Austria, Assadollah Assadi, was arrested and later convicted for planning a bombing attack against a rally in France — using diplomatic cover to transport explosives. In Argentina, investigations into the 1994 AMIA bombing — which killed 85 people — revealed that Iranian embassy personnel facilitated logistics and intelligence support for Hezbollah’s attack. Embassies in Turkey, Kenya, and several European capitals have been surveilled or sanctioned over ties to terrorist operations and abduction plots.

And all of this is happening without a nuclear weapon.

Why does this matter? Because this regime already has the blood of innocent people on its hands — without needing a nuclear weapon. They have shown the world what they are. A bomb would only be the final crown on a kingdom of corpses.

So again, what are we negotiating for? What are we legitimizing by sitting across the table from mass murderers in robes?

There are options — real ones — to stop Iran’s terror machine once and for all. But they require moral clarity and political will, not more signatures on paper that will be burned like every other “deal” Iran has laughed at.

One thing is transparently clear: There is no deal, no diplomacy, no coexistence with this regime. Only one side walks away — and it better be us.