Mayor Rudy Giuliani: We must recognize Iranian Resistance movement

In order to prevent a nuclear-armed regime in Iran and avoid war in the process, the U.S. government should recognize and support the Iranian Resistance which seeks to overthrow the mullahs’ regime, Rudolph W. Giuliani, former mayor of New York, wrote on Friday marking the 14th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

"It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that 9/11 is now simply a part of the nation’s history, like Pearl Harbor. Because there is one big difference. The causes and hatreds that created 9/11 are still with us, and the terrorists have enlisted members who are even more diverse, cunning and determined. The Islamist terrorist war against us continues. This is not a matter of history but of current and future threats," Mr. Giuliani wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

"In the late 1970s, Iran’s theocratic rulers began killing hundreds of thousands of their own people and took American hostages that the regime held for 444 days."

"Now, once again, the terrorist attacks under the banner of jihad are increasing and diversifying. With so many such attacks and thwarted attacks over the past five or six years, we must recognize that 'they'—those who want to destroy civilization—are continuing the war against us."

"Yet those running our government seem to be in an even greater state of denial than the nation was in during the period before Sept. 11. Now, instead of bin Laden, Iran’s supreme ayatollah has declared that he wants to destroy Israel, to continue to kill Americans and to establish an Islamic empire including Iraq, Syria and Yemen—and the terrorist groups Iran supports. At the same time, the group known as Islamic State, or ISIS, has declared a caliphate seeking the destruction of Christianity and other infidels, and now occupies key areas of Iraq and Syria."

"As we reflect on the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we must remind ourselves that all the wickedness underlying those attacks still exists and has expanded. We may very well be in more jeopardy now than before 9/11."

"The Obama administration appears likely to get its nuclear deal with Iran—even though it gives the ayatollahs access to hundreds of millions of dollars that will be used to sponsor terrorist acts against us and our allies, and puts the regime on the road to becoming a nuclear power. The deal makes war, either conventional or nuclear, more likely."

"But there are alternatives to war. The Iranian regime to this very day maintains a two-dimensional approach to us: negotiate with us while maintaining policies on the destruction of Israel, death to Americans and supporting Islamist terrorism. The American leadership should be at least as shrewd, using a two-pronged counter approach: While attempting to reach an agreement assuring a nonnuclear Iran, we should also recognize and support the Iranian resistance movement. It is absurd that we supported regime change in Egypt, a U.S. friend, and regime change in Libya, a neutered country that had abandoned its weapons of mass destruction, and yet have done nothing to support it in Iran," Mr. Giuliani added.