U.S. Rep. Salazar: Iran is an evil growing in our own backyard | Opinion

“You don’t appease evil. You confront it. You annihilate it.”

That was my statement after the United States struck Iran’s nuclear facilities — not because I celebrate violence, but because I understand the nature of our enemy and the unacceptable cost of a nuclear Iran.

Iran is not just another hostile regime. It is a revolutionary Islamic power, born in blood and committed to chaos. It does not want peace. It wants permanent revolution, exported to every corner of the globe — including our own hemisphere.

This is not a theory. It is doctrine. Ayatollah Khomeini, the father of modern Iran, said it himself: “The Islamic Revolution is not confined to Iran alone. Its mission is global. We shall export it to the world.”

Iran does not thrive in stability. It thrives in collapsed states, black markets, smuggled weapons and terror cells. That’s why it must never obtain a nuclear weapon.

The debate over U.S. tactics misses the larger truth: dictators and rogue regimes only understand one thing — strength. And when that strength is absent, they expand.

Iran doesn’t need long-range missiles to reach America. It found Venezuela. And through Venezuela, it found Cuba. Together, they’ve built an axis of terror just 1,363 miles from Miami — closer than New York is to Dallas.

This isn’t a distant threat. It’s a live wire in Miami’s own backyard.

Iran’s alliance with Venezuela is now two decades strong. What began as an ideological flirtation under Hugo Chávez has become a full-blown military and financial partnership — built on weapons, oil and hatred for America.

Today, Iran flies planes full of weapons into Venezuela and builds factories for military technology. Just this March, an Iranian plane full of missiles and drones landed at El Libertador Air Base. This is how Iran keeps its allies armed — through steady shipments and training.

And it doesn’t end there.

For years, “aero-terror” flights ran between Caracas and Tehran, carrying Iran’s Quds Force (the elite arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard), explosives, and Hezbollah and Hamas agents disguised as passengers.

Venezuelan banks have directly financed Iran’s missile and nuclear programs and its Revolutionary Guard.

Other examples can be found throughout Latin America. In Cuba, U.S. intelligence reports have confirmed Tehran’s coordination with Havana on military intelligence and electronic surveillance.

And as Iran gains ground in our hemisphere, it brings a history of bloodshed.

Just ask Argentina. In 1992, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed. In 1994, the AMIA Jewish cultural center was destroyed, killing 85 and injuring hundreds, the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust— until Oct. 7, 2023.

Both attacks were tied to Iran-backed Hezbollah. Thirty-one years later, the Jewish families of South Florida still carry the pain because no one was ever held accountable.

This isn’t just about Iran. It’s about a new world order, engineered by Iran, where democracy is dismantled, America is weakened and tyranny rises unchecked.

Iran’s deepening relationship with China is a subject for another op-ed. But all roads lead to the same conclusion: We cannot, under any circumstances, allow Iran to gain more power or build a bomb.

Iran’s leaders chant “Death to America.” They call for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” They fund the same terrorists who slaughtered innocents on Oct. 7.

Iran’s reach is long. Its intentions are deadly. And its partners are growing bolder.

That’s why the U.S. was right to act. These strikes weren’t escalations — they were containment. A clear line in the sand.

For years, there was doubt about how close Iran was to building a bomb. Were they enriching uranium? Acquiring centrifuges from China? That doubt is over — because the U.S. severely damaged Iran’s nuclear facilities, and with them, the illusion that this program was peaceful.

That’s good for the U.S., for Israel, and for every democracy in the Western Hemisphere.

As I said before: You don’t negotiate with evil. You stop it cold.

This is how you confront tyrants — not just in Tehran, but in Havana, Caracas and Managua, too.

Peace through strength. That is the American way. Strength is what this moment demands.

Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami Republican, represents Florida’s 27th Congressional District.