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Striking Back: Iran Has Been at War with America for 46 Years
Aftermath of the bombing of the US Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, October 1983. (Photo: Screenshot)
President Donald Trump ran on a platform to end wars, including Ukraine, Gaza, and the Red Sea. He offered Iran multiple opportunities to negotiate a better future.
If people didn’t want to eliminate the Houthi threat that affected our USCENTCOM allies Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, as well as Israel, that’s OK. If they insisted upfront that American “boots” didn’t belong anywhere in the region, that’s OK. If they didn’t want the US to cooperate with our CENTCOM partner, Israel, OK fine. That’s their opinion.
But if they thought the Iranian regime was not at war with the US, so there was no need to bother them in their pursuit of the destruction of Israel or spread of terrorism — or if they thought Iran’s unbridled nuclear weapons capability only threatened Israel — they are on another planet.
Ilhan Omar, AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Hakeem Jeffries, Ed Markey, Amy Klobuchar, Antonio Guterrez, and more are all out of touch with reality and reason.
Think of it this way: Donald Trump just avenged more than 1,000 American service personnel killed, and thousands wounded and held hostage by Iran since the mullahs declared war on us in 1979.
Don’t forget them.
We are Iran’s “Great Satan” to Israel’s “Little Satan.”
“Student activists” in Tehran occupied the US embassy in 1979 and held Americans hostage for 444 days. The Americans were paraded through the streets blindfolded. Six managed to escape with the help of our Canadian allies — remember Argo?
In 1983, Iran bragged about the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 220 US Marines, 21 other US servicemembers, and 58 French soldiers.
Israel’s pager attack on Hezbollah in September 2024 eliminated the masterminds of the attack – who had been on the FBI Most Wanted list for 41 years.
In 1984, Iran’s proxy Hezbollah kidnapped, tortured, and killed CIA Station Chief William Francis Buckley, whose identity they apparently learned from classified documents seized from the embassy in Tehran. Buckley was transferred to Iran and tortured there, before being returned to Lebanon.
In 1985, US Navy diver Robert Stethem was beaten and kicked to death before his body was dumped on the tarmac by Hezbollah in Beirut. In 1988, Hezbollah kidnapped Colonel William R. Higgins and tortured him for months. Former FBI agent Robert Levinson was presumed kidnapped by Iran in 2007 and killed; his body has not been recovered.
In 1996, an explosion at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia killed 19 American servicemembers.
In 2011, there was an Iranian plot to kill a Saudi diplomat in Washington, D.C., and to attack the Israeli and Saudi embassies. That year, too, Iran began to take steps to mine the Persian Gulf.
US Naval Intelligence shows Iranian warships have been in the Red Sea — where Iran has no border — since 2011. Part of Iran’s support for the Houthi rebellion in Yemen can be explained because it’s near the US Expeditionary Force base in Djibouti, close to the Straits of Hormuz. Iran provides missiles and training to the Houthis.
In 2012, chairman of the Iranian chiefs of staff, Hassan Firuzabadi, said, “We do have the plan to close the Strait of Hormuz, since a member of the military must plan for all scenarios.”
Iranian war games in 2015 were designed against American forces and included passing skills along to proxy forces. Beginning in 2016, swarms of Iranian fast boats harassed American ships and others in the Persian Gulf, engaging in what the commander of the US Central Command called “unsafe maneuvers.”
Iran captured American sailors and released video footage of them — a violation of their rights under the Geneva Convention.
In 2018, US intelligence revealed that Iran was responsible for more than 600 American military deaths in Iraq and thousands wounded by Iranian IEDs in Iraq. In 2024, three military contractors working in Jordan were killed in a drone attack and 40 others were injured. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, claimed responsibility.
If you still think the US is just fine; protected by two oceans and friendly neighbors, and doesn’t have to care about freedom of navigation, trade routes, oil exports, China, Russia, or North Korean missile and nuclear weapons capability, that’s OK, too.
Wait.
No, it isn’t.
Peace is always good; peace is always important. But real peace does not consist of “turning the other cheek” while your enemy gets stronger. It is the outgrowth of strong and measured American cooperation with regional partners — in Europe, in Asia and in the Middle East — to ensure that malevolent actors don’t have an opportunity to ruin the system of international travel and commerce or to impose their vision of “peace” on the unwilling. Or to commit genocide.
Ensuring that Iran does not have nuclear weapons is a crucial step in that direction. And avenging American servicemembers across countries and decades counts as well.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly magazine.
The post Striking Back: Iran Has Been at War with America for 46 Years first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool
US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.
Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.
“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”
Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.
Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.
On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.
The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.
On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.
Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.
Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.
ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.
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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.
The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.