Congress is missing in action on Iran’s regional aggression

Leaders in Washington, D.C., remain virtually silent on the Iraq- and Iran-backed forces’ recent invasion of Kurdish lands in northern Iraq. Iran’s aggression has been set into overdrive, and the White House and Congress seemingly have no answers to combat the regime in Tehran.

During Monday’s press conference at the White House Rose Garden, President Trump announced that the United States would not be “taking sides” in the recent flare-up in Kirkuk. The city was forcibly taken from the Kurds by Iraqi forces with the backing of Iran-controlled militias.

Reports estimate that dozens of Peshmerga fighters were killed in the joint Shiite operation. Trump’s nonchalant response to the Iranian-backed surge in Iraq is particularly perplexing, given that last week, the president announced the imposition of sanctions against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

If the IRGC was at all involved in the Kirkuk operation, it would indeed mark the first test of the newly ordered Treasury Department sanctions against the Iranian regime’s elite military unit.

President Trump is challenged with a massive executive branch that includes a Pentagon and State Department that remains committed to the failed Iraq democracy project, which includes support for an entirely corrupt and sectarian central government and Baghdad.

The same cannot be said about Congress, however, which doesn’t have to fight against the massive bureaucratic machine in submitting policy proposals.

Given that Congress passed the IRGC sanctions, you’d think that its members would be particularly alarmed by potential IRGC action against supposed U.S. allies. The Peshmerga and Kurdish forces in Syria have been almost wholly responsible for the defeat of ISIS.

However, but for a few prominent voices on Capitol Hill, the legislative branch is nowhere to be seen or heard.

Through their inaction, and by not taking "sides," the president and Congress (Republicans and Democrats alike) may have green-lighted Iranian-backed militias in their efforts to continue infiltrating Kurdistan.

According to Iranian state media, preparations are being taken to invade Kurdish lands. Moreover, other state-controlled outlets are mocking President Trump, claiming that he doesn’t have what it takes to stand up to Iran’s regional aggression.

If the White House and Congress continue to remain silent, Iran will continue to assert its dominance over a region that is becoming more and more subservient to the Shiite supremacists in Tehran.

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