The world's leading sponsor of terror strikes again

The Wall Street Journal

The suicide bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a local Bulgarian bus driver on Wednesday was shocking if all too familiar. The Jewish state has been in a virtual state of war since its birth in 1948, and in recent years the chief threat has emanated from Iran and its terror proxies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Lebanese group Hezbollah—"the long arm of Iran"—carried out the attack in the Bulgarian coastal city of Burgas. American officials confirm that the bomber belonged to a Hezbollah cell.

The Burgas strike took place on the anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people, and fits—in Mr. Netanyahu's words—a "consistent pattern" of Iranian-sponsored attacks on Israeli civilians around the world. Particularly of late.

A Hezbollah man was arrested in Cyprus last week, suspected of plotting to attack Israeli tourists at a beach resort. Kenyan officials last month arrested two Iranians who were shipping high explosives into the country and allegedly scoping out U.S. and Israeli targets. In February, Israeli officials were targeted in bombing attacks in India, Georgia and Thailand. As a reminder that Iran also targets non-Israelis, last October the Obama Administration said it foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.

The atrocity in Bulgaria is another reminder about the nature of the Iranian regime. The Islamic Republic was born through terror, starting with the 1979 hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and it has become the world's leading terror sponsor. A clerical regime hated by its own people and isolated in the world has grown even more brazen and unpredictable.

No wonder Israel is so worried about Iran's plans to build nuclear weapons and is determined to stop Tehran with a direct military strike if need be. As Mr. Netanyahu said, "A terrorist state must not have a nuclear weapon," especially when that state pledges to wipe you off the map.

The wonder is that the U.S. and its allies continue to look for ways to reach a diplomatic understanding with the perpetrators of these unending attacks, rather than calling the regime what it is and working to overthrow it. Iran's killing of innocents will continue until the world decides to stop it.