Iran, and Iran (Until I Couldn’t Keep Up)
Michael Oliss | News Editor
It’s hard to keep up with it all nowadays.
The three most important people in America right now all gave wildly different answers to a question that could turn into a World War III trivia question in a hundred years — I can’t keep up with any of it. Wasn’t this the president who was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize for, well, peace?
America and Israel are at war with Iran after a joint operation consisting of missile strikes targeting the nation’s capital. Iran’s supreme leader was assassinated during the attack; his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is Iran’s new leader. Six American soldiers died in the operation that killed his father and wife on Feb. 28.
The same night, an elementary school in Iran was hit by US-Israeli strikes — over 100 people, mainly children, have been confirmed dead. The U.S. did not confirm or deny the cause of the blast, but said it was investigating. An anonymous U.S. official told the Associated Press that the damage was likely American-made, and early investigations indicate the building was targeted.
The tragedy came two months after President Trump promised to “rescue” Iranian protestors and civilians on his social media app, Truth Social.
I just learned about Facebook last week. Truth Social playing a part in WWIII is really blowing my mind.
As the effects of that night spiral outward from Tehran and into neighboring areas like Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, and others, the country that escalated this conflict seems to be confused about the whole thing. White House officials are torn between claiming an impossible victory over enemies equal to the devil and deflecting all blame onto Israel. That used to be Iran’s thing.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the goal of the mission — codenamed “Operation Epic Fury” — was essentially to hit them before they hit us. “We knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks,” he said, “we would suffer higher casualties.” Rubio made clear that the American acts of war were in preparation for Iranian attacks.
However, President Trump gives different reasons for the Iranian strikes, which killed longtime Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khamenei. In a Truth Social post earlier this year, Trump promised American intervention to defend people protesting the Ayatollah’s regime: “If Iran sho[o]ts and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump said. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.” Trump implies America’s stance is to support regime change and protect the Iranian people.
Within five minutes, Trump gave yet another reason to initiate a war with Iran: “If we didn’t do what we’re doing right now, you would have had a nuclear war, and they would have taken out many countries.” Trump claims that if the U.S. didn’t attack, Iran would have become the next nuclear power in the world and an existential threat to countries unknown.
Trump met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on March 5. There, he gave a different reason for starting the war with Iran. “It’s been 47 years,” Trump told the German leader. “They’ve been killing people all over the world for a long time. They were the kings and fathers of the roadside bomb.” Trump thinks that “they” deserved to be attacked and that it was inevitable.
I mean, I really can’t keep up anymore.
On March 5, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Iran — a nation of over 90 million people and, according to Trump, two weeks away from attaining nuclear missiles — was “toast.” Last June, and long before this conflict escalated to war, Trump said the Iranian nuclear program was “completely and totally obliterated.” Last year, Trump said he destroyed the Iranian nuclear program, and following the strikes that ignited this war, Hegseth said the American operation was “just getting started.” This implies Trump’s first mission last summer was successful, and that the current proceedings will continue and escalate — the bombing of schools, assassinations of political leaders, and complete confusion over what to attribute as the cause of the war are “just getting started.”
This is what I have so far: everything is justified, necessary even, because Iran could have nukes in two weeks and would use them immediately — even though last June, Trump told the American people the Iranian nuclear program was “totally obliterated,” and the bombing, which killed scores of innocent Iranians, is meant to “rescue” the Iranian people from the theocratic regime that has ruled the country since 1979. Oil has nothing to do with it. The fact that Iran has the second-largest oil reserves in the world is a coincidence. Perhaps, the real answer to “Why are we in a war with Iran?” is “they were the kings and fathers of the roadside bomb.”
Wait, that doesn’t seem right.
Maybe I was never supposed to keep up. Maybe it’s not that complicated. Maybe it’s simple. Maybe no one is lying, incompetent, or risking so many innocent lives for financial and political gain. It’s certainly not to distract people from any files. No, there are no files. There are no liars either. I’m not being manipulated. I’m done keeping up.
I don’t have to keep up, because I believe…
In an operation that in no way revolves around making terrifying amounts of oil money, America bombed Iran to save protestors, destroy a nuclear program that we were told no longer exists, and stop a war Iran would have started if the United States hadn’t started it first.
The one part I still don’t get: why can’t we call it a war? In a 60 Minutes interview, Hegseth said, “Call it what you want.” What would it be called if the Ayatollah of Iran had assassinated Trump and struck an American elementary school with missiles? I guess there’s no phrase for that other than military action, but I can assume whatever we’d do to avenge our lost leader, Iran is planning to do the same to us.
Oh, and don’t forget: it’s just getting started.
Finally, I think I’m all caught up.
This is an opinion piece that does not reflect the views of anyone at Flyer News or the University of Dayton.