Jeffrey Sachs

We need to bring Iran back under our control because we're an empire.

If we're too weak vis-a-vis any piece of our empire, it damages our reputation anywhere.

We need to punish these people for what they've done.

And there was the hostage taking by the youth radical groups who said, we're doing this because we want the Shah to be brought back here to face a trial in Iran for the crimes of the police state over the last 23 years.

And the United States had taken in the Shah here.

in a very unwise decision by President Carter in 1979 for medical treatment, knowing that we were suspecting it was going to lead to this kind of eruption.

They demanded reparations, they demanded an apology, they demanded an end to the U.S.

subversion of Iran.

All pretty reasonable, actually, but of course it became the cause célèbre of the United States in 1979.

And another humiliation for America, which an empire never tolerates.

An empire needs to repay any kind of loss of face with some kind of extreme punishment, not only to get that particular recalcitrant place under control, but to signal to all the rest of the empire, don't you dare try this.

so from 1980 onward the u.s has been at war with iran in various ways in 1980 onward we paid we armed we supplied saddam hussein

to invade Iran, a pretty sordid deal.

Saddam Hussein used poison gas with American knowledge at the minimum, and according to some testimonies, American active support.

But we engaged in a war in Iran through a proxy through Iraq from the very start.

of this 1979 government.

Donald Trump, already back in 1980, said we have to overthrow this government.

So when Trump gives his explanations for the current

war he says oh nuclear or this or that this is uh these are convenient uh current explanations for something that has been on his mind for 46 years as well because the american empire suffered a slight a country got out from under american cia control which you don't allow to happen

And from 1980, it's been nonstop war.