Michael Goodwin: The righteous attack on Iran shows us the confederacy of evil can be defeated

It was only a week ago when the prospect of America and Israel teaming up to attack a heavily armed Iran seemed necessary but also very risky.

Yet following the largest and most rapid bombardment in the modern era, the decision already looks not only right, but also righteous.

The mighty alliance is showcasing a stunning variety of sophisticated and overwhelming firepower in the pursuit of a moral cause against a government so malevolent it is incurable.

The gathering and sharing of key intelligence and the extensive planning and coordination regarding targets represent a remarkable testament to how close the two nations have become, especially under President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Indeed, with the so-called great powers of Europe sitting on the sidelines, carping about the Iran mission and quivering in fear of their own Muslim populations, Israel is proving to be America’s most reliable and important ally.

Question of values

Because no good deed goes unpunished, the partnership has been distorted by some American nut job leftists to fan the ever-smoldering coals of antisemitism.

Some of the guilty are being drawn out into the open.

Imagine how warped your politics and values have to be to organize or attend a vigil for a mass murderer — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park.

Yes, such a thing was actually held there last week.

The Democratic Socialists of America, whose membership includes New York Mayor Mamdani, also seized the moment to demonstrate how far out of touch they are.

They used the Iran attack to call for “ending the US empire” and actually mourned the “extrajudicial killing of the supreme leader,” The Post reports.

One of the group’s social media events prominently features the Iranian flag, leading one commentator to correctly note that Iran’s leaders “murdered tens of thousands in a matter of days for protesting for democracy.”

Mamdani’s DSA, of course, was and remains a disgraceful voice in accusing Israel of genocide during the war in Gaza.

Facts don’t matter, and so adherents ignore that Hamas invaded the Jewish state, murdered mostly civilians, including women and children, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza.

Or that the terrorists used fellow Palestinians, schools, mosques and hospitals as shields.

The DSA group’s continuing call for “the end of Israel’s colonization and occupation of all Arab lands and the right of all refugees to return to their homes and properties” would eliminate Israel as a Jewish state.

That’s the goal.

Unfortunately, the war against Iran is also showing that some on the right have succumbed to the ancient hatred.

The evidence is the outlandish claim that Israel has hoodwinked America into helping it fight Iran.

Trump has tried to set them straight, but antisemites are immune to facts, including these.

Since it came to power in 1979, Iran’s government has killed far more Americans than Israelis.

And it is because of Israel’s help that America is able to carry out its extensive war plan without putting a single pair of boots on the ground.

Confederacy of evil

For its part, Israel has been fighting almost nonstop against Iran and its proxies in recent decades.

And don’t forget that a former Iranian leader vowed that when it developed nuclear weapons it would destroy Israel with just a single bomb.

Payback for this reign of evil came fast, as the very first shot of the current assault took out the ayatollah and his death-cult team.

Although the final shot is yet to be fired, we are witnessing what is almost certainly the downfall of the Islamist thugocracy.

By itself, that is cause for celebration in the region and much of the world.

The mad mullahs have openly exported their poison far and wide, and their designation of Israel as the Little Satan and America as the Great Satan was more than a memorable talking point.

The ayatollah and a series of urbane civilian leaders made it clear that those designations constituted the guiding cause of their existence, and they were committed to destroying both nations.

Meanwhile, Israel’s decision to go hard after Hezbollah in Lebanon in recent days reflects the reality that Iran is so hobbled that it cannot come to its terror proxy’s aid.

The two operations constitute a rare moment where a confederacy of evil is being dismantled before our eyes.

If it is completed, the change will make it possible for millions upon millions of people to have safer, longer and better lives.

Iran alone has a population of more than 90 million people.

Their liberation from the Islamist yoke would mark a joyful and monumental development.

End goal

Although it’s not yet clear who and what government in Iran comes next, Trump’s demand Friday for “unconditional surrender” lays down an important marker.

It leaves no room for doubt that the objective is putting a complete and permanent end to the brutal theocracy.

His position is poetic justice in that the regime signed its own death warrant when it started the new year by assassinating thousands of peaceful protestors, even reportedly executing many of the wounded in their hospital beds.

Their protests were not a threat, they were a plea for help in a collapsing economy.

Rampant inflation, a near-worthless currency and a shortage of clean water and electricity drove as many as a million people into the streets of Tehran and other cities.

Follow The Post’s coverage of the United States’ airstrikes on Iran:

A confident, decent government would have responded with enough concessions to relieve some of the anger.

Instead Khamenei ordered his enforcers to shoot protestors on sight.

So here we are, less than two months after Trump encouraged those crowds to keep demonstrating and promised that “help is on its way.”

He kept his promise, and his surrender demand reflects the facts on the ground.

If ever a regime deserved to die, Iran’s does.

For 47 years, it never wavered in suppressing its own people and fomenting death and destruction on its neighbors and in far-flung destinations.

It was a blood-drenched menace to the world from its conception, and there was not a single sign of reform or even moderation from within.

And yet, a series of American presidents and European leaders acted as if they believed change was impossible.

They were wrong.

And the extent of that error is on display as the remaining regime figures are turning their rapidly diminishing supplies of drones and missiles on fellow Muslim nations.

It looks and feels like the death rattle of a once-mighty giant.

The scene led one observer to note that Iran has attacked and effectively declared war on more Arab states than Israel ever did.

The moment points up the possibilities of a post-Islamist Iran.

Freed from the mullahs’ terror at home, the nation and the region could finally become the long hoped-for economic powerhouse.

We’re not there yet, but in just one week, the goal is within sight.