I was about to have a Golani whiskey with a cigar on my balcony, watching the Mediterranean sky turn gold over Tel Aviv, when Iran reminded me — again — that sunsets in Israel are never just sunsets.

For a brief moment, life felt ordinary. In Israel, that may be the rarest luxury of all.

From my vantage point as a Jewish-American-Israeli, Iran’s agenda has not shifted in more than four decades. The regime in Tehran has been unwavering — in ideology, in rhetoric, and in action. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it has defined itself through hostility toward Israel, toward the United States, and toward Jews everywhere.

This is not exaggeration. It is doctrine backed by decades of violence.

The slogans “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” were never symbolic. They became pillars of state identity. And the regime has enforced them across continents.

Through its proxy Hezbollah, Iran enabled the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American servicemen. The same Hezbollah — financed, armed, and trained by Tehran — carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, murdering 85 people in a deadly antisemitic attack.

Iranian-backed operatives have targeted Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, plotted attacks in Cyprus and Thailand, and entrenched militant networks on every one of Israel’s borders. Hamas in Gaza. Hezbollah in Lebanon. Shiite militias across Syria and Iraq. Houthis in Yemen. This is not coincidence. It is strategy.

And yet the world continues to behave as though Iran’s conduct is episodic rather than systemic.

We debate centrifuges and enrichment levels as though the issue were purely technical. We parse diplomatic phrasing as if misunderstanding were the obstacle. We negotiate sunset clauses in agreements with a regime whose ideology has no sunset.

There is no ambiguity about the regime’s intentions.

Iran does not differentiate between affiliated and unaffiliated Jews. It does not care whether you are religious or secular, left-wing or right-wing, Israeli or Diaspora. Jewish sovereignty itself is the offense. If you are a Jew, Iran wants you dead.

Nor is its hostility confined to Jews. Iranian-backed militias killed American soldiers in Iraq. Its proxies threaten global shipping lanes. Its cyber units test Western infrastructure and democratic systems. Its missile program stretches well beyond this region.

This is not a nuisance to be managed. It is a revolutionary regime committed to reshaping the Middle East — and challenging the West — through force, murder, intimidation, and attrition.

Outside Israel, there remains a temptation to compartmentalize the threat. Some see only a nuclear file. Others view Iran as a rational bargaining partner whose excesses can be moderated through economic incentives. Still others treat its rhetoric as theatrical bluster for domestic consumption.

Israelis do not have that luxury.

We measure Iranian ambition in sirens and shelters. In intercepted drones and missiles. In children who can identify the safest corner of a stairwell before they learn long division.

As a Jewish American who chose to make Israel home, I also measure it in the clarity of history. When a regime repeatedly declares its desire to eliminate the Jewish state, then spends decades building the military architecture to do precisely that, disbelief is not sophistication. It is denial.

When Iran chants “Death to Israel,” it is not critiquing policy. It is rejecting Jewish self-determination in any form. When it calls America the “Great Satan,” it is rejecting the liberal democratic framework that protects minorities — including Jews — and constrains tyranny.

Clarity is not warmongering. It is responsibility.

Diplomacy without deterrence invites escalation. Agreements without credible enforcement invite violation. And minimizing explicit threats has never served the Jewish people well.

While war is not inevitable, complacency is indefensible.

The Islamic Republic has survived by pairing ideological zeal with strategic patience. It cultivates proxy armies, exploits regional chaos, and counts on democratic societies to grow weary — to prefer temporary quiet over durable security.

Israel does not have the option of exhaustion.

We did not choose this geography. We did not choose to be the target of a revolutionary regime’s obsession. But we did choose to ensure that Jewish vulnerability would no longer be permanent.

The balcony sunset can wait. The cigar can remain unlit. The Iranian regime must be defanged.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)