Quote: If the U.S. itself put sanctions back on Iran, that would severely damage the Iranian economy regardless of what the rest of the world does.
A ground war doesn't make sense. Air strikes would be the best way to proceed. I'm confident Ted Cruz would send the U.S. air force to do so, if Iran continues to engage in international terrorism.
Considering Iran is holding 4 Americans hostage, that by itself makes air strikes an appropriate response.
If the US put sanctions back on Iran by itself, the EU and UN would respond harshly, possibly with tariffs or sanctions of their own against the US. I know, I know, I'm waiting for, "Teh US of A does NOT answer to those pansy Europeens!", but them's the breaks, kid. If the US unilaterally tears up its end of the bargain and reimposes sanctions, the rest of the nations involved will condemn that action and place economic and diplomatic pressure on the US to honor the deal that we agreed to. I know, I know, "Not MY President, not MY deal." Whatever. Get over it. International politics doesn't work that way.
If, in D6's dreamland where Ted Cruz doesn't get his tail handed to him in the first round of primaries, Ted Cruz launches unprovoked air strikes against Iran, the reaction would be swift and violent. This isn't Iraq, which had no real allies to speak of in position to deter the US from attacking. This is Iran, which has Russia and other Middle Eastern nations standing squarely behind it. I doubt anyone would launch a direct attack against the US, but US military bases in the Middle East? Parking lots. Do you think Ted Cruz wants to explain to the American public how he got tens of thousands of Americans in the Middle East killed, and how he can't respond to it because starting World War III (hopefully) isn't on his to-do list? Cruz is a blowhard, no better than Trump. Actually, he's worse than Trump in many respects. Trump puts forth no illusions about what he is: a blowhard businessman who manipulates the system to his advantage and has no desire to cater to anyone but himself. Cruz pretends that he's some maverick representative of the people, when really, he's just Dick Cheney in disguise.
And finally, those "hostages". They were arrested for violating Iranian laws, and are being held as criminals there. How is that any different from the US arresting a Mexican national and placing them in prison? Being a 'Murrican citizen does not entitle one to break the laws of whatever country they're in and cry foul to the US government over it. Do you know anything about the Iranian prisoners? One of them was a CIA operative. Think about that. Let's say you found an Iranian spy working on US soil. Would you be inclined to return them to Iran in lieu of imprisoning them? So they can go back and debrief their government on exactly what they found?
