In the aftermath of the unprecedented Iranian strike against Israel over the weekend, Joe Biden’s policies towards Iran have come under greater scrutiny, highlighting the role his actions may have played in allowing the attack to happen.
As Breitbart reports, the Biden Administration did not renew United Nations (UN) sanctions on Iran’s drone and ballistic missile production in October last year, even after Iranian-backed terrorists launched an attack against Israel on October 7th that led to the deaths of over 1,400 Israeli citizens. Saturday’s launch of hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel marked the first time ever that the government of Iran had directly attacked Israeli soil.
Since Biden let the sanctions expire on October 18th, Iran has had five months to increase its development and drones, missiles, and other ballistic technology, which allowed it to stockpile such weapons for this particular attack. But instead of renewing the existing sanctions, Biden announced new, less severe sanctions that targeted particular Iranian individuals and groups rather than the government itself.
“On October 18, 2023, the restrictions set forth in UN Security Council … was based on the assumption that Iran would take the necessary steps towards restoring confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program,” the State Department said in a statement at the time. “This has not happened. In this context, it is imperative that all States continue to take steps to counter Iran’s destabilizing ballistic missile-related activities through ongoing counterproliferation cooperation.”
Iran’s attack was allegedly in response to an Israeli airstrike which took out senior leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization. The military operation killed seven Iranian terrorists, including Quds Force Commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
On Saturday, Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles in total. Despite the high volume of weapons launched at once, most were successfully intercepted and destroyed by Israel’s Iron Dome, resulting in minimal damage to Israeli territory. There is currently only one documented casualty in Israel, an Arab girl who was hit by shrapnel.
The IRGC, however, declared the strike to be a “success,” and Islamic radicals held celebrations in the streets throughout Iran, including in the capital city of Tehran.
Israel vowed to continue defending itself, with war cabinet minister Benny Gantz saying on Sunday that “we will build a regional coalition and exact the price from Iran in the fashion and timing that is right for us.”