Once upon a time the Iranian government was under the thumb of and in service to the interests of the United States and its Middle East colonial outpost, Israel. 

The 1979 Iranian Revolution—the most consequential of the 20th century—changed all that. The establishment of the Islamic Republic brought to a close the 37-year obsequious reign of America’s Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and to the centuries-old monarchical system. 

It also put an end to the days when a U.S. ambassador, on the orders of a U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, could arrogantly issue ultimatums to the Iranian government, as Ambassador William Sullivan did on 11 January 1979, when he “advised” the besieged Shah to leave promptly.

Along with the restoration of national sovereignty, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic (24 October 1979) documented the revolutionary government’s identification with the just struggle of the oppressed against the imperious United States and Israel. 

Unquestionably, since the revolution, Iran has been the primary advocate of Palestine.  As such, the Islamic Republic’s regional and foreign policy have come to be defined by its anti-imperialist ideology, culture of resistance and commitment to the Palestinian cause. 

From then until now, Washington and Tel Aviv have been engaged in all manner of treachery to foment the downfall of the government, and to reimpose, once again, a docile leadership in Tehran willing to bend to their will. 

What is at the heart of U.S.-Israeli fears that has driven, for close to five decades, such hostile actions toward Iran?  Their intense animus and anti-Iran policies can be attributed to the following:

  • Its defiance in defending against and blocking U.S.-Zionist domination of the Middle East.
  • Its apprehension that Iran’s independence from and challenge to foreign powers may embolden other states in the region. 
  • Its fear of the political and economic power of regional unity espoused in the ideology of the Revolution; and example of political transformation through the collective unifying power of the ummah, the Muslim community.
  • It has forced the West to confront the antecedents of antisemitism and guilt over the Holocaust that led to the establishment of Israel and dispossession of the Palestinians. 
  • Its uncompromising support for the Palestinian cause and for national liberation movements that struggle against U.S.-Zionist dominance.  

Iran is often described by the United States and Israel as a threat to regional stability. What they are really saying, however, is that Tehran undermines their hegemonic vision of a “new Middle East,” a power structure that has benefitted the United States, Israel and compliant authoritarian Arab regimes. 

On 29 September 2025, the U.S-Israeli vision of a “new Middle East,” bereft of Palestinians, was undisguised when President Donald Trump, flanked by the Israeli prime minister, rolled out his 20-point proposal to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.  The so-called “peace” plan is essentially a list of Israeli demands, a colonial redux (Balfour 2.0) and extension of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe).

Not unlike the Iranian Revolution, the 7 October 2023, Palestinian rebellion was a landmark event that has reshaped and shifted the geopolitical dynamics of the Middle East.  It revived attention to the Palestinian cause that had been sidelined by U.S.-led normalization deals (Abraham Accords) and by the growing preoccupation of Arab rulers with containing Iran.

Gaza has exposed the Israeli regime’s fundamental inhumanity.  It has laid bare its decades-long expansionist objectives to control all of Palestine and to eliminate the last “roadblock” to complete domination of the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

What Gaza has not revealed, however, is the enormous debt the world owes Iran.

Iran’s principled stand against injustice has come at great sacrifice.  For  supporting Palestinian resistance forces, it has been subjected to unending hostilities: U.S.-backed war, assassinations, internal sabotage operations, cyber and terrorist attacks and draconian economic sanctions.

Consequently, the United States has made Iran among the most sanctioned countries in the world.   

Ironically, it is Iran, a non-Arab country, that has spearheaded the informal political and military alliance of state and non-state actors known as the “Axis of Resistance.”

While Arab autocrats have cut business deals with Tel Aviv and maintained security alliances with the United States, the “solidarity of the oppressed” has fought to end the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide.

To appease and pacify their restive pro-Palestinian populations, Arab rulers publicly condemn Israel’s actions, and portray Iran as the regional troublemaker. 

In light of U.S.-Israeli inspired divisions, it is worthwhile to recall that Muslim unity was integral to the ideology of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s first Supreme Leader, who viewed Islam as a revolutionary and politically unifying faith.  

As early as the 1960s, he warned in his sermons against the dangers of Israel, and linked Palestinian liberation and resistance to the wider Muslim struggle against U.S.-Israeli oppression. 

Khomeini framed the liberation of Palestine as a religious and political obligation for all Muslims. In his oft quoted “If the Muslims were united—a single fist—none can rise up against them,” he espoused the potential power of the faith’s two billion adherents, with 414 million Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa strong, if they chose to wield it.    

It is precisely the call for political action through Muslim unity that intimidates Saudi Arabia and other Arab potentates whose passive form of Islam runs contrary to Khomeini’s vision and to the striving championed in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic. It is a unifying spirit that also evokes fear in Washington and Tel Aviv.  

For eight decades, Israel has been using regional disunity to its strategic advantage.  However, Arab rulers have begun to show signs of comprehending that the real terrorist threat emanates not from Tehran, but from Tel Aviv via Washington.     

Israel’s cowardly airstrike on a residential compound in the heart of Doha on 9 September 2025, apparently with Washington’s consent, may have disabused Qatar of the mistaken idea that their country was exempt from Israeli aggression because of its non-NATO alliance with the United States. 

The attack may have also finally awakened other Arab regimes to the realization that Israel is a danger to them all.  The message seems to have been received by Egypt, that moved recently to improve ties with the Islamic Republic, despite long standing conflicts between the two.  

It is important to note, that Washington and Tel Aviv have been constructing a prejudicial narrative about Iran for decades. Their official storyline, riddled with deceptive language, has been fraught with Orwellian contradictions.  For example, Israel has committed genocide and is rewarded with political cover and billions in military assistance.  Whereas, Iran that has acted to prevent the crime of genocide is sanctioned, its leaders assassinated and the country bombed.  

Another glaring illustration of misrepresentation concerns the failure of the world community to commend the people and leaders of Iran and Ansarallah (Houthis) in Yemen, who have taken action in defense of the Palestinians.

Currently, they are the only countries living up to the obligations of the 1948 Genocide Convention (Article I) that clearly states the duty of every nation to prevent and protect people from genocide and to punish the perpetrators and those complicit in the crime. 

The “responsibility to act” was detailed in January 2024 when the Court ordered Israel to take six provisional measures to end the genocide in Gaza, and in March 2024 when it reaffirmed its previous measures and required additional actions. 

In addition, the ICJ ruled (19 July 2024) Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip illegal under international law and that it must end. 

In contrast, Washington, deeply complicit in genocide, continues to support the rogue state of Israel with lethal weapons and financial support to continue its brutalities in Gaza and the West Bank.  

Another nurtured storyline, is the U.S.-Israeli portrayal of Iran as an expansionist state.  It has become so entrenched that it is rarely, if ever, scrutinized or challenged. 

Unlike Israel, the Islamic Republic has not bombed, seized or annexed the territory of neighboring states, and has no nuclear weapons.  Its strategy is primarily defensive; to deter attacks from the United States and Israel.

Washington remains mute as Tel Aviv executes its expansionist “greater Israel” objectives. Once generally unspoken, the regime’s determination to dominate the region is now brazenly proclaimed. 

While Iran is labeled the aggressor, Israel has reoccupied Gaza, continued its colonization and annexation of the West Bank, pushed further into Lebanon and Syria, and conducted airstrikes across the region.  

According to Washington, Iran is the only country that has no right to defend itself. 

In contrast, Washington has made sure that Israel and Arab Gulf regimes are heavily armed and fortified with military bases.  Currently, Iran is encircled by 30 of those bases.

There are numerous examples of Washington’s preferential treatment of its allies.   

Leading the list: after two years of genocide and complete devastation of Gaza, the U.S. Congress, save for a few, has remained absolutely silent. A large bipartisan majority of members have instead embraced and have completely supported the Israeli regime. They have yet to pass a single resolution condemning Israel’s actions.

In contrast, in April 1979, a month after the Islamic Republic was officially declared, the political establishment under the aegis of U.S. Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY) sponsored a resolution condemning the human rights abuses and executions carried out by the nascent Iranian government. It passed unanimously on a voice vote.

One of the most blatant examples of political nepotism involved the coverup by the US government of the aftermath of the deliberate Israeli attack on the U.S. intelligence ship, the USS Liberty on 8 June 1967.  During the brutal military assault, Israel killed 34 servicemen and wounded 171, and rendered the vessel immobile.  No condemnation. No sanctions. No punishment.  

More recent examples include official Washington’s indifference and disinterest over the killing by Israeli forces and Zionist squatters of Americans in occupied Palestine.  Since 7 October 2023, 12 U.S. citizens have been murdered. Israel has yet to face any condemnation or consequences.

Conversely, the death in September 2022, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old Iranian woman, while in the custody of Iran’s guidance patrol, sparked months of outrage in the U.S. Congress and in the mainstream media.    

A classic example of distorted reality concerns the widely believed “nuclear threat” narrative drummed up by Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.  For over 30 years, he has been falsely warning the world of an imminent threat, that Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. 

Against this background, the Islamic Republic agreed in 2012 to multilateral negotiations.  After roughly four years, the nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was finalized in 2015.  To seek relief from economic sanctions, Iran agreed to curtail a nuclear weapons program that did not exist, and to implement strict limits on its peaceful program.  

Despite the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the pact in May 2018 and imposition of even harsher sanctions, Iran continued implementation.  It was only after the European signatories (UK, France and Germany) reneged on their obligations, that, one year later, Iran gradually reduced its commitments.

Despite numerous obstacles, especially after the June 2025 U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on the country’s nuclear and military sites—attacks that killed more than 1,000 Iranians and injured thousands more—Iran attempted to honor and revive the JCPOA.

Since the 1979 Revolution, and under enormous pressure, Iran has stood as a barrier against the complete subjugation of the Middle East.  Fundamentally it has protected its Arab neighbors from essentially becoming tributary states (more so than they are today), completely absorbed into the U.S.-Israeli imperium. 

As the nation approaches a half-century since the Iranian people replaced monarchy with an Islamic republic, the question arises:  What would Iran look like today if from the outset, it had not been under unceasing pressure and assault, and forced to expend its resources on defending the country. 

It is interesting to note that in the throes of profound change and transition, Iranians created an entirely new government organized under a written constitution based on populist policies.

Following the Revolution, Iran was able to reduce poverty and make advances in social services.  It has elevated its culture and continues to excel in the sciences and technology.  Free of the imposition of foreign wars and challenges to its territorial and political integrity, Iran could have done more.  

Iran matters because it has bared the naked deception and wickedness of the regimes in Washington and Tel Aviv.  To the oppressed, Iran has imparted the idea that it is possible to stand up to oppressors and survive.  For the besieged Palestinians, experiencing the brutish aggression of the U.S.-backed Israeli war machine, a stalwart Iran is indispensable.Email