Retired British Army Colonel Richard Kemp served from 1977 to 2006 as an infantry battalion commanding officer, including command of Operation Fingal in Afghanistan from July to November 2003. He has spoken on a range of social and political issues, including the British armed forces, the Middle East, and the European Union. Kemp is the head of UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (UK-AWIS).
On Friday, Kemp published an op-ed in The Telegraph under the headline, “Iran wants war with the United States,” suggesting “the return of Trump would be Iran’s worst nightmare.”
Over the past four years, Iran’s leaders have reaped financial and political gains under Joe Biden’s more conciliatory policies, including access to billions of dollars in previously frozen assets that have bolstered Tehran’s influence globally, Kemp argued. Why else would Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have allowed or potentially ordered his proxies Hamas and Hezbollah to launch such brutal attacks on Israel in October last year, if he didn’t believe a more lenient US administration would let him act with impunity?
Indeed, Kemp surmised that the Supreme Leader couldn’t tolerate the prospect of his longtime adversary returning to the White House, leading the Iranian regime to allegedly order Trump’s assassination in September. On Friday, the Department of Justice announced charges against Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan immigrant living in the US, who was reportedly directed by Iran’s IRGC to kill the Republican presidential candidate.
Kemp is confident that with Trump back in the White House, Washington’s protection of Iran will end decisively—a shift he views as essential for both the Middle East and the West. Policies under Obama’s nuclear deal and Biden’s more conciliatory approach, he argues, have positioned Tehran dangerously close to becoming a nuclear-armed state.
Iran is believed to possess enough highly enriched uranium for at least ten nuclear weapons, along with the ballistic missile capability to deliver them, and may soon achieve full weaponization.
Whatever course of action Trump might choose for the US to take directly against Iran, he should also lift all restrictions Biden has placed on Israel. Kemp wrote, suggesting Trump should not only offer unambiguous support for any measures Israel deems necessary to defend itself but also provide Israel with the military resources needed to decisively dismantle Iran’s nuclear program.
