Letter to the editor

Iran’s nuclear program is a direct threat to the United States and our allies, and we must demand that our elected officials prevent Iran from achieving the capability to create a nuclear weapon.
Allowing the Iranian regime would have disastrous effects to the security of the world. As the lead state sponsor of global terrorism, Iran would be able to greatly increase its support for terrorist attacks, knowing that retaliation would be unlikely for the risk of nuclear retaliation. In the past year, the Iranian regime has sponsored terrorist attacks in Bulgaria, India, Georgia and Azerbaijan. It has also attempted to blow up the Saudi ambassador to the United States at a café in Washington D.C. Iran ships missiles regularly to terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah and to their ally, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to murder his own citizens. With a nuclear bomb, we can only expect an increase in this radical behavior.
Finally, statements by officials in other Middle Eastern Nations such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey make it clear that the completion of an atomic bomb would set off a nuclear arms race in one of the most unstable regions of the globe.
In order to prevent this national security disaster, we must insist that our leaders continue to increase sanctions on the Iranian economy and establish a credible military threat to show that the world will not tolerate nuclear weapons in its hands. Our policy makers must know that Americans on both sides of the aisle hold them accountable to make sure that the national security of our country and our allies remains a top priority.

Drew Stroemple, College Republican president
Mallory Kimble, College Democrat president