Worse Than Iraq

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | March 14, 2026

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says, “We’re winning,” though what we're winning is open to debate. But let’s back up.

What is now Iran has been an organized civilization for more than 2,000 years, going all the way back to Cyrus the Great and the Achaemenid Empire of 550 BCE. The preferred religion was a blend of Hinduism, Judaism, some Christianity, and Zoroastrianism, which dominated for 1200 years until the 7th century CE. (Zoroastrianism is still a protected religion in Iran today.)

Iran is not the typical Middle East country. They are Persian, not Arab, and would be quick to tell you there are both genetic and historic differences. Their primary language is Farsi, not Arabic, and they are a majority Muslim country practicing Shia Islam, the official national religion, though the overwhelming majority of the rest of the region practices Sunni Islam. This has created ongoing sectarian strife.

Their land area is a little smaller than Alaska, about one-sixth the size of the U.S. Their population is about 92.4 million as of last year, with an average age of just under 35.

They’ve been governed by an unbroken string of monarchs acting as dictators and autocrats, all of which we tolerated. We became their pals once their vast oil reserves were discovered. The Qajar Dynasty took control in 1789 and managed to hang on until they were violently deposed in 1921. Four years later, the Pahlavi Dynasty began their reign, and it was not great for the Iranian people.

There were a brief few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s when Iran had a democratically elected leader, but the U.S. and Great Britain orchestrated a coup in 1953 to protect both country’s oil interests and because it was the early days of the Cold War and they feared communist influence in the country and region. Back then, we couldn’t tolerate their democracy.

The Pahlavi Dynasty, or more specifically our pal the Shah, then governed, increasingly by force and fear, until 1979. He outlawed political parties, religious dissent, press freedoms, and employed his brutal secret police SAVAK to terminally eliminate any form of dissent. The U.S. tolerated the increasingly oppressive conditions for the people of Iran because the Shah was reliably anti-communist and bought lots and lots of military equipment we’re now trying to destroy.

Which brings us to 1979, when Iran experienced an Islamic revolution. The Shah was overthrown, 52 Americans were held hostage, and virulently anti-West theocratic rulers were installed. One form of dictatorship was replaced by another.

Iran then became a thorn in the side of the region. They declared their intent to drive Israel, whose Jewish residents they refer to as “vermin,” into the Mediterranean. They fought a pointless war with Iraq (we were on Iraq’s side) and provided both financial aid and weapons to terror groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian states.

Which brings us to our peculiar decision to start a war with them. We undertook an aerial campaign six months ago that we were told “totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. Then we attacked again and had a difficult time arriving at a consistent or logical reason.

We were initially told we attacked because there was evidence they were going to attack us or Israel. Then we were told they were going to assassinate Trump. Then we were told it was because they were rebuilding their nuclear program. Then we were told by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt we attacked because Donald Trump, “... based on fact, had a feeling we were going to be attacked...” Then Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in his “60 Minutes” interview, said we attacked because Iran was a “generational threat gathering.”

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the Pentagon informed a Congressional committee there was “no evidence” Iran was preparing to attack either the U.S. or Israel nor sending an assassination squad to kill Trump.

Iran’s despicable leadership are not idiots, and attacking the U.S. would be an act of pure idiocy. They had about 150 naval ships, most of which are small gunboats, not warships. They do not possess an aircraft carrier, though they are trying to convert a container ship to something that is capable of launching drones. Their “air force” was mostly just pre-1979 U.S. jets and equally old Russian and Chinese aircraft.

Now the president has said we will jointly decide with Israel when to end our involvement. So we’re fighting somebody else’s war and taking our instructions from them.

We’re told this is not Iraq. No, it’s worse because we should know better. This administration learned nothing from Afghanistan and nothing from Iraq and is now spending American blood and treasure to beat up on smaller, weaker adversaries, including the bombing of a school full of children. That does not make us tough or strong. It makes us pathetic.