Twenty-nine year old Uzbek immigrant Sayfullo Saipov, is suspected of plowing yesterday into pedestrians and bikers on a New York City bike path with a truck. Eight people are confirmed dead, 11 are seriously injured.

President Donald Trump responded with tough talk in a tweet, “I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!” 

For Trump and many of his supporters, the attack is further proof of the need for a travel ban on people from majority Muslim countries. Some experts believe such a ban would have not prevented yesterday’s incident, and that U.S. policy on terrorism has more to do with inciting such attacks. 

In light of the New York City attack, we’ll examine the travel ban and the “War On Terror” with Mateo Farzaneh, associate professor of history and inaugural principal of The Mossadegh Initiative at Northeastern Illinois University-Chicago. His most recent book is The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani.