The attack of the United States to the Iranian nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan marks a turning point in western strategy: a preventive action aimed at defuse a nuclear program which represents an existential threat not only for Israel, but for the entire international liberal order.
In fact, Tehran plays a central role in a global synergy between anti-western powers:
• supports proxy groups in the Middle East (Hamas, HezbollahSciite militias in Iraq and Yemen),
• helps the Venezuela to evade international sanctions,
• sells obvious oil to the China,
• provides drones and war technology to the Russiacontributing to the war in Ukraine.
In this context, an Iran reduced and deprived of its destructive skills is Good news for the West: would mean hitting the heart of a global illiberal axis.
The ideology of the regime: hatred as a liturgy
To confirm the ideological and systemic character of the Iranian threat, there is an often underestimated element: the ritualization of political-religious hatred within the mosques. For years, during Friday prayer, in hundreds of places of worship under the control of the regime, the slogan is regularly recited “Death to America“, On the direct order of the Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei.
This practice is not an isolated or folkloristic expression, but an integral part of the symbolic architecture of Iranian theocratic power. In it, religion, politics and strategy, in an ideology that demonizes the West And it denies its existential legitimacy. The slogan is often accompanied by invocations against Israel and against “world Zionism”, in an atmosphere in which hatred is not only tolerated, but sacralized.
In a regime where the state and religion coincide, words of repeated hatred as prayers have real consequences. They create internal consensus, prepare minds for the idea of martyrdom and holy war, and justify aggressive and destabilizing external policies.
The defense of democracy is not passiveness
The great contemporary question for democracies is this: how to defend a system free from those who deny the right to the existence of the other?
The threat is not only military but also ideological. The Islamic Republic of Iran for years has been the intention of eraseing Israel from the map for years, and this rhetoric today finds a material translation in the advancement of the nuclear program. The risk is that an apocalyptic vision turns into concrete annihilation capacity.
This is where a crucial difference emerges: democracies that have nuclear weapons adopt the logic of deterrence and reciprocity. Theocratic or totalitarian regimes, on the other hand, can see in destruction a “mission” or a saving necessity. The force, in these cases, is not used as a last resource, but as a messianic tool.
The moral duty of preventive action
Modern democracies are based on ethical values that impose prudence, proportionality and respect for human life. However, when these principles are absolute up to prevent each reaction, they become a vehicle of vulnerability.
Act before the threat materializes It is not a betrayal of the democratic editionbut its highest form: it is a moral obligation towards citizens and towards the very idea of freedom. In the case of Iran, who actively works for the annihilation of a sovereign state and is equipped with apocalyptic tools, the inaction becomes indirect complicity.
A democracy that renounces defending itself to remain consistent with its values, risks sacrificing those values by leaving them defenseless. The preventive defenseif proportionate and targeted, is not a derogation from liberal principles, but their natural continuation.
Freedom also defends itself by forceif necessary. And it is precisely this ability to reaction, exercised with consciousness and measure, which allows democracies to survive and to make morally highlighting what they fight.
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