All the ayatollah's men

(JNS) — Forty-five years ago this month, a revolution was underway in Iran. It was called an Iranian revolution but its leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had a more ambitious project in mind: the founding of a new Islamic empire that would project power throughout the Middle East and far beyond.

In 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei succeeded Khomeini as “supreme leader” of the misleadingly named Islamic Republic of Iran.

Like his predecessor, he has repeatedly and relentlessly vowed “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.”

And he’s elaborated: “Death to America will happen. In the new order I a...