The latest moment of peril for Iran’s ruling ayatollahs may have passed, but their regime is nonetheless weaker than ever before. Donald Trump could yet decide to use force to punish the regime’s brutal murder of thousands of innocent protesters, but the ayatollahs’ ultimate fate remains uncertain. Simultaneously, the Atlantic alliance faces enormous tension due to Trump’s disdain for NATO, his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize, his friendship with Vladimir Putin, his belligerent rhetoric about Greenland and his fascination with tariffs, among other things. Amidst all this turmoil, therefore, finding common ground where the allies can work toward mutually advantageous objectives would be extremely helpful.

Joint action against Iran’s theocratic-military dictatorship is one such project. Without Iran’s support, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iraqi Shia militias would be in dire financial straits. Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’s barbaric October 7 attack has already dramatically altered the Middle Eastern balance of power, but Iran’s terrorist threat will not disappear until the regime disappears. Toppling the regime is the swiftest and most effective way to remove the terrorist threat the West has faced for over 50 years.

Iran’s support for international terrorism endangers Europe just as directly as it does the Middle East and America. Campaigns to assassinate dissident Iranians, Israelis and others in Europe have been underway for years, frequently thwarted by successful law-enforcement efforts. The United States faces this same threat, as I can personally attest.

Europe and Israel are more vulnerable to Iran’s nuclear-weapons threat than the US. If Iran becomes a nuclear-weapons state, its capacity to deliver such weapons on targets is currently significantly limited by its ballistic-missile capabilities. Iran today has only medium-range missiles. Without intercontinental ballistic missiles [with a range of at least 5,500 kilometers], the Islamic Republic is unable to attack US territory.

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