In 2020, a majority in the House of Representatives passed a resolution to limit President Donald Trump from waging a war against Iran. This resolution came after Trump gave the order to the US military to kill the Iranian General Qasem Suleimani. Gen. Suleimani was an influential figure overseeing the militias affiliated with Iran, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and other armed militias in the region. He was also a mastermind behind the armed groups attacking the Americans in Syria and Iraq.
Gen. Suleimani had an immense ability to exacerbate every situation to create opportunities for the Iranian regime to further spread its roots and influence across the Middle East.
Notably, Iran played a major role in the 1994 Kurdish Civil War in Iraq between the two main Kurdish political parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). At first, Iran was supporting the KDP, but in 1996 it shifted its support to the PUK. Gen. Suleimani was overseeing the fight and giving the orders of the bombardments. Indeed, I lived in Kurdistan at that time and witnessed this bloody conflict firsthand.
In fact, Trump’s approval to kill Gen. Suleimani was more strategically impactful than Pres. Obama’s 2011 order to kill Osama Bin Laden. Since Suleimani was a high-ranking military official and internationally recognized as a representative of the regime of Iran, he had more weight politically and militarily than Bin Laden.
When Gen. Soleimani was killed by a US drone at the Baghdad International Airport in early 2020, most of the House Democrats and even some Republicans discredited and criticized Trump for the order. Thus, they passed the above-mentioned House Bill that that was later approved by the Senate.
In contrast to the harsh actions taken against Trump, however, a recent, bipartisan Senate resolution proposed to give Joe Biden the authority to use military force against Iran if that country escalates the Israel-Hamas war. Apparently, Democrat and Republican Senators are finally admitting the fact that the Iranian regime is the dynamic driving the various militias that are destabilizing the region, a fact they evidently ignored during Trump’s presidency!
To be clear, I completely disagree with any US military engagement with Iran. Such an action would lead to a larger catastrophe for both Americans and the region.
Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Islamic regime of Iran has been actively laying foundations for different armed groups and militias to keep the region violent and unstable. However, regardless of the administration in power, the US is unlikely to be able to improve its relationships with Iran for many reasons. Obviously, Iran’s denial of Jewish rights in the form of an Israeli nation, which the US supports, is the main reason for the wide gap between these two countries.
The Iranian system is based on a rigid ideology that has no room for reformation. Also, America’s ambiguous policies in the Middle East with the Arab and Muslim nations has been causing complete and continued distrust. All this creates a profound predicament for the US in the region.
Domestically, the long-term animosity between the two nations has been politicized by many politicians to influence Americans during elections. This issue can be another subject and tool that each political party uses to gain votes. The divided politicians have been aiming to degrade and destroy each other instead of focusing on the many international threats facing the US.
Clearly, Iran has been showing the same ill intent and hostility toward the US under two different administrations, Trump’s and Biden’s. However, what sticks out like a sore thumb is the obvious double-standard of the American politicians who limited Trump from taking action against Iran but eagerly give Biden the authority to militarily strike the Islamic Republic.
– Serwan Zangana supported Operation Iraqi Freedom as a U.S Army translator before coming to the U.S from Kurdistan, Iraq in 1997 to seek political asylum. He was granted asylum status and years later proudly became a U.S citizen. He currently serves as a correction officer in Roanoke.