Anyone else facepalming over Trump’s MIGA (Make Iran Great Again) tweet?
Have you ever wondered why the US is so worried about Iran getting a nuclear weapon? I did – so I looked it up. As it turns out, this isn’t the first time we’ve fucked with Iran for another country.
Every time tensions flare with Iran, American politicians trot out the same tired explanation: they hate us because they hate freedom. It’s a comforting fairy tale that lets us play the victim while ignoring seven decades of documented American interference in Iranian affairs. The truth is considerably less flattering and infinitely more instructive.
Here’s what actually happened: we destroyed their democracy, propped up a brutal dictator for 26 years, helped their enemies gas them with chemical weapons, shot down their civilian airliner, and then spent decades economically strangling their population. But sure, let’s pretend they’re mad about our democratic values.
In 1953, Iran had something most Middle Eastern countries could only dream of: a democratically elected government. Mohammad Mossadegh wasn’t some radical extremist – he was a constitutionalist who wanted Iran to actually profit from its own oil instead of letting the British drain their coffers. Parliament elected him 79-12. His party won majority seats. He operated under Iran’s 1906 Constitution and sought to limit the Shah to a ceremonial role.
His crime? Nationalizing Iranian oil. The audacity.
When Britain threw a tantrum and imposed an economic boycott, President Eisenhower decided the solution was obvious: overthrow Iran’s government with a CIA coup. Operation Ajax succeeded through the time-honored American tradition of massive bribery and violence. CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt Jr. bought newspaper editors, politicians, and military officers while hiring crowds to stage riots. When the first coup attempt failed, CIA headquarters told Roosevelt to abort. He ignored orders and tried again, resulting in about 300 deaths in Tehran.
The results were immediate and devastating. Mossadegh got life under house arrest. The Shah returned with absolute power. American companies received 40% of Iran’s oil fields. And Iran’s democratic experiment died before it could properly begin.
This wasn’t some Cold War necessity – it was corporate welfare with a body count. We killed Iranian democracy because it threatened British oil profits, then spent the next 70 years wondering why they don’t trust us.
For 26 years after our coup, we propped up the Shah’s increasingly brutal regime. Iran became our largest arms customer and regional enforcer, which sounds strategic until you consider what that actually meant for Iranians living under American-backed tyranny.
In 1957, the CIA helped establish SAVAK, Iran’s secret police. We didn’t just provide funding – we sent Major General Norman Schwarzkopf Sr. to personally train agents in surveillance and interrogation techniques. SAVAK employed thousands of agents and informants who specialized in systematic torture: sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, beatings, and the strappado.
SAVAK didn’t limit itself to Iran. They harassed Iranian dissidents living in America, maintaining extensive files on Iranian students and activists on U.S. soil. Iranian Americans report being surveilled and intimidated by agents of our client state operating with impunity in American cities.
Amnesty International documented at least 300 political executions under the Shah, with thousands more tortured and imprisoned. But hey, he was modernizing the country – as long as you don’t count political freedom as part of modernity.
The Shah’s White Revolution brought land reform and women’s suffrage, which sounds progressive until you realize it occurred within an absolute monarchy that banned political parties and crushed all dissent. We supported this arrangement for more than a quarter-century while lecturing the world about freedom and democracy.
During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, the United States provided extensive support to Saddam Hussein while knowing full well he was using chemical weapons against Iranian forces. This isn’t speculation – we have declassified CIA documents proving American officials provided Iraq with satellite imagery, maps of Iranian troop movements, and targeting information for Iranian logistics facilities.
The moral catastrophe reached its peak when U.S. intelligence provided Iraq with targeting data “fully aware that Hussein’s military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin.” CIA analysts estimated Iranian casualties in the “hundreds” to “thousands” for each chemical attack. Two-thirds of all chemical weapons used during the war occurred in the final 18 months when American intelligence support was most extensive.
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Then, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655, killing all 290 people aboard – including 66 children. The ship was operating inside Iranian territorial waters when it “mistakenly” identified a civilian airliner as a fighter jet, despite the plane following an approved commercial route and transmitting correct civilian codes.
We never formally apologized. We awarded the ship’s captain the Legion of Merit for “outstanding service.” Vice President George H.W. Bush defended the action at the UN. We only paid compensation eight years later after sustained Iranian pressure.
Picture this from an Iranian perspective: America helps your enemies use chemical weapons against your soldiers, then shoots down your civilian airliner and gives the responsible officers medals. Yet somehow we’re mystified by their hostility. They just hate freedom.
The comprehensive sanctions regime against Iran represents the longest economic warfare campaign in modern history. These aren’t targeted sanctions against government officials – they’re designed to crater Iran’s entire economy and make life miserable for ordinary Iranians.
The Treasury Department estimated Iran’s economy was 15-20% smaller by 2015 than it would have been without sanctions. That represents over $160 billion in lost oil revenue alone. Human Rights Watch documented shortages of critical medications including cancer treatments, epilepsy drugs, and specialized bandages for rare diseases.
During COVID-19, sanctions blocked the shipment of 2 million influenza vaccine doses to Iran. Approximately 30 Iranian children with a rare skin condition died after a Swedish company stopped selling specialized bandages due to sanctions compliance concerns.
The current sanctions architecture targets over 1,000 Iranian persons and entities, affecting everything from medical equipment imports to basic financial transactions. While designed to pressure the government, they primarily harm ordinary Iranians who lack political power to change regime policies but bear the economic consequences.
This is collective punishment disguised as diplomacy. We’re making sick children suffer to pressure a government that doesn’t particularly care about sick children. Yet we act surprised when this generates anti-American sentiment.
Oh, and apparently, “Death to America” doesn’t mean what Americans think it means. Iranian officials and scholars have repeatedly clarified that “Marg bar Amrika” (“Death to America”) symbolizes opposition to U.S. foreign policy, military interventions, and economic coercion. It’s akin to Americans saying “burn it all down” about Congress – it’s anger at institutions, not individuals. The phrase has been ritualized – a symbolic resistance slogan, not a literal threat.
This distinction shows up in polling data. While only 13% of Iranians express favorable views of the U.S. government, 51% hold favorable views of the American people. Recent polling shows 67% of Iranians support normalizing relations with America, with 68% favoring increased cultural and educational exchanges.
The slogan serves domestic political functions, allowing different factions to demonstrate revolutionary credentials while competing over actual policy. Hardliners use anti-American rhetoric to maintain ideological purity, while reformists downplay it in favor of economic pragmatism.
Younger Iranians – who comprise 60% of the population and were born after 1979 – show particularly positive attitudes toward America and prioritize economic opportunities over ideological confrontation. They want jobs, education, and cultural exchange, not eternal revolution.
The tragic irony is that most Iranians want better relations with America despite this history of American interference. They distinguish between opposing U.S. government policies and harboring hatred for American people – a nuance that seems lost on American politicians who prefer simple explanations.
Iranian anti-American sentiment stems from specific, documented American actions that Iranians experienced as existential threats to their sovereignty and democratic development. We destroyed their democracy, supported their oppressors, helped their enemies kill them with chemical weapons, shot down their civilian aircraft, and continue punishing their population with economic warfare.
This doesn’t justify everything Iran has done since 1979, but it explains why anti-American sentiment became institutionalized in Iranian politics. The current antagonistic relationship resulted from decades of American interventions that created legitimate grievances, not from Iranian hatred of American freedoms.
The next time some politician claims they hate us for our freedom, remember this history. Countries don’t develop decades-long antagonisms toward America because they’re jealous of our democracy. They develop them because we keep interfering in their affairs, supporting their dictators, and bombing their neighbors.
Maybe if we stopped treating other countries like chess pieces in our global strategy games, we might not have to worry about all of our enemies’ nuclear programs.