An American’s Perspective: The Iran/North Korean Nuclear Playbook

I drive a Kia Soul.

Not because it’s fast or fancy, and not because I can rev the engine and attract high school girls.

I’m 76 years old, and I drive that car because it’s incredibly reliable.

And it was conceived and created by extraordinarily competent engineers in South Korea.

The nation that has the highest educational ratings on our planet.

A nation where most schoolchildren spend up to 16 hours a day studying.

A nation where brilliance and dedication are an art form.

A nation that was one of the poorest in the world, but now boasts the world’s twelfth largest economy.

Education and greatness go hand-in-hand, and we should applaud South Koreans for their efforts, their unwavering determination, and their achievements. One of which is my wonderful little Kia Soul.

To their north is the other Korea, the unpredictable one led by a bully. That starving nation maintains the largest land army on earth, they have a thousand long range cannons pointed at Seoul, and they are striving desperately to achieve nuclear parity with the United States (which means they will no longer fear nuclear reprisals from the U.S. when North Korea decides to move her legions to the south.)

So let’s examine this chessboard for a moment.

North Korea has nuclear weapons, and they have been warned not to perfect long range delivery systems by the White House. Surely, Kim Jong-un understands that to launch missiles at U.S. targets would result in a massive retaliation. Plus, he’s more a realist than a Jihadist, so he’ll be a bit more cautious in dealing with the United States than fanatics elsewhere might be. But his people are starving, and he cannot endlessly keep control and maintain his position as Supreme Leader of that nation. Ultimately, the starving populace of any nation, even North Korea, will revolt … it’s just a matter of time.

And then, a timely entrance was made by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

With tens of billions of dollars released to that nation by virtue of the absurd document called the Iran Nuclear Deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) if you’d like to get fancy, Iran has struck an incredibly simple deal with Kim Jong-un. Out of this arrangement, Iran will obtain nuclear weapons technology in return for dollars with which Kim’s regime can purchase food and other essentials for North Koreans, who with full bellies will then be less inclined to revolt and overthrow him. Kim will achieve stability within his nation, his grip on North Korea will tighten, and he will then be allowed to focus on his dreams of attacking the South in order to unify the people of the Korean Peninsula. So he has immediately agreed to this “deal,” because from his perspective, it has no down side whatsoever.

And this is not conjecture, for the wheels of this arrangement are already well in motion.

Of course, Tehran has warmed to her latest ally. The pathetic thing about all this is that the Iranians don’t ever have to violate the spirit of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, because Iran won’t have to purchase a single centrifuge to see their dreams of conquest materialize. Nuclear technology will be given to them by North Korea in return for billions of dollars for desperately needed food.

And then, the Jihadists of Tehran will convince North Korea to give up the quest for long-range nuclear weapons delivery systems. Because they’ll be unnecessary. President Trump will bask in the limelight of that decision and declare a great victory at that point in history, as though he really had something to do with all this.

The author within me has now taken charge of my thought process.

Kim Jong-un will practice his new shrug of innocence, and Iran will go about the business of perfecting suitcase nuclear weapons, the real danger in their goals and ambitions. Iran will furnish those weapons to fanatic Jihadists who will smuggle them into cities in the United States, England, Canada, and Australia … our principle allies. On a sunny summer day, multiple nuclear detonations will occur in more than twenty major American cities, and also in London, Toronto, and Sydney. Tehran will say, with all due innocence, “Nope, not us,” Kim will exhibit his shrug of innocence, and the United States will reel from nuclear devastation and the inability to select targets to attack. Imagine the Joint Chiefs meeting with the President of the United States, assuming they’re still alive, to explain, “We’re not quite sure who is responsible for these attacks, Mr. President.”

And then, with the United States and our allies being forced to the sidelines with threats of further nuclear attacks on those nations, Iran will be able to aim medium range nuclear warheads at the State of Israel while simultaneously, North Korea invades the South and, in doing so, is unstoppable.

Do the bad guys win?

Iran is going to attack Israel. That’s not an “if”, it’s a “when.” In my prior articles I’ve discussed their dedication to that cause, and while the United States muddles about in the existing and post-Trump-era and we continue to exhibit instability and lack of purpose, the Jihadists will remain focused. Given the opportunity, they will first, and once again, attack and severely damage the United States. Suitcase bombs will be their ideal weapon of choice. Of course, but after the fact, it can be determined that the fissionable material Iran uses is of North Korean origin. Inquiries can be made, perhaps military retaliation can be contemplated, but when the North Koreans claim they have furnished weapons-grade plutonium to more than a dozen countries, with no mention of Iran, our leaders will be emasculated. There is not an administration now or in the foreseeable future that would attack another nation based upon conjecture and lack of hard evidence. I foresee that we will be blinded to the source of an attack on the United States, and that we will do nothing at all in retaliation.

Just today, in MSN News an article stated, “At the White House, National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday night that the U.S. was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region, an area that includes the Middle East. In a statement, he said the move was in response to ‘a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings,’ but did not provide more details.”

Also today as reported by MSN News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated, “’It is absolutely the case that we have seen escalatory actions from the Iranians and it is equally the case that we will hold the Iranians accountable for attacks on American interests,’ Pompeo said. ‘If these actions take place, if they do by some third-party proxy, a militia group, Hezbollah, we will hold the Iranian leadership directly accountable for that.’”

There is an organization in the United States named, “United Against Nuclear Iran,” and these brave men and women are lifting their voices in protest to inferior foreign policy. We cannot allow Iran to acquire nuclear technology, for those in Tehran, if given the opportunity, will use those weapons against the United States and against Israel.

To write a novel, one must develop a plot and cause the reader to gasp at the twists and turns. But in the scenario I’ve outlined, the occurrences are straight as an arrow. There is no subtlety here, and no deception. Iran has 500,000 men at arms and we know the arrangement they’ve penned with North Korea.

From the “United Against a Nuclear Iran” website, in absolute agreement with everything I’ve stated here,

“The threats posed by Iran and North Korea to the U.S. and its allies are broad and multifaceted, encompassing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation and delivery, cybersecurity, transnational crime, human rights violations, and destabilizing regional activities. The Iranian-North Korean threat is compounded by the two nations’ decades-long record of cooperation, especially in the realm of nuclear and ballistic missile development. Knowledge and technology flow both ways between these partners, enabling each to refine and advance their illicit proliferation activities.

“The nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 has provided an impetus for Iran to further deepen its relationship with the DPRK. Before the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, the JCPOA rescued Iran’s economy from the brink of collapse, providing it with a massive cash infusion, granting it access to more than $100 billion in previously frozen assets, and opening the Iranian market to foreign trade and investment. Cash-starved and isolated North Korea continues to stand as a likely beneficiary of Iran’s sanctions relief windfall—especially if Europe, China, and Russia continue doing business with Tehran—and provides Iran a potential avenue to carry out proscribed activities while it is subject to the JCPOA’s restrictions.”

It is a time for action.

To do nothing is to invite disaster, and as I state that, the nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln is steaming toward the Persian Gulf.

I salute their level of preparedness and the dedication of the United States Navy.

And to the State of Israel … we are on our way.