The US Role in Iran: 1953 to 2026

From the Texas Reporter

 

Why many ordinary Iranians might sincerely see the United States as a terrorist nation

Try an exercise in perspective.

Imagine you are not an American reading this.

Imagine you are a shopkeeper in Tehran, a taxi driver in Isfahan, or a teacher in Shiraz. You are not a politician. You are not a soldier. You are just trying to run a business, feed your kids, and live your life.

Now imagine the history you grew up with.

⸻

1953 — Your democracy is destroyed

Your country once had a democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh.

He nationalized Iran’s oil industry so your country’s resources would benefit Iranians instead of foreign companies.

The United States and Britain respond by orchestrating the 1953 Iranian coup d’état.

Your elected government is overthrown.

The Central Intelligence Agency helps reinstall Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah.

He rules for decades as an authoritarian monarch.

From your perspective, the world’s most powerful democracy just destroyed yours.

⸻

1960s–1970s — Secret police rule

Under the Shah, a feared secret police force called SAVAK emerges.

Opposition figures disappear.

Political prisoners are tortured.

Dissidents are watched and arrested.

The Shah is armed, trained, and supported by the United States.

So from your perspective, the repression in your country is being backed by a foreign power.

⸻

1979 — Revolution explodes

Eventually the anger erupts.

The Iranian Revolution overthrows the Shah.

Soon after, the Iran hostage crisis begins when Iranian students seize the U.S. embassy.

Americans remember that moment as humiliation.

Iranians remember 1953.

Two nations remembering completely different histories.

⸻

1980s — War and tragedy

Then your country is invaded by Saddam Hussein, beginning the Iran–Iraq War.

Hundreds of thousands die.

The United States supports Iraq diplomatically and strategically during much of the war.

Then, in 1988, the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655.

290 civilians die.

Men. Women. Children.

To Americans, it is called a tragic mistake.

To many Iranians, it looks like their civilians were killed and the world moved on.

⸻

1990s–2010s — Sanctions crush the economy

Then come the sanctions.

Decades of them.

Financial sanctions. Oil sanctions. Banking sanctions.

Iran is locked out of the global financial system.

If you are that Iranian taxi driver or shopkeeper:

• your currency collapses

• medicine becomes harder to import

• inflation destroys your savings

• jobs disappear

And none of it was your decision.

⸻

2015 — A moment of hope

Then something changes.

Iran signs the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal.

Sanctions are lifted.

Frozen Iranian funds are released.

For a moment, ordinary people think the future might finally improve.

Businesses reopen.

Foreign investment begins returning.

Families start planning again.

⸻

2018 — The deal is abandoned

Then the United States withdraws from the agreement under Donald Trump.

Sanctions snap back harder than before.

Iran’s currency crashes.

Inflation skyrockets.

Your life becomes harder overnight.

From your perspective, the most powerful country on Earth simply changed its mind and crushed your economy again.

⸻

2020 — A national leader is killed

The United States kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.

Americans see him as responsible for attacks on U.S. forces.

But in Iran, millions attend his funeral.

To many Iranians, it looks like a foreign power assassinated one of their top national leaders.

⸻

2025 — The United States bombs Iran

In June 2025, the United States carries out major airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, using bunker-busting bombs and cruise missiles. 

From the perspective of an ordinary Iranian, the world’s most powerful military just bombed their country.

⸻

2026 — War expands

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launch a massive wave of strikes across Iran targeting military infrastructure and leadership. 

Hundreds of strikes hit missile bases, command centers, and other facilities across the country.

Civilian areas are also affected in the chaos of war.

Then the bombing continues.

U.S. strikes hit naval targets in the Strait of Hormuz, destroying Iranian mine-laying vessels during the conflict. 

And more recently, U.S. airstrikes targeted facilities on Kharg Island, the hub for most of Iran’s oil exports. 

From the perspective of that Iranian shopkeeper or taxi driver, the most powerful country on Earth is once again bombing their nation.

⸻

So imagine how it looks from their side

You didn’t plan coups.

You didn’t write nuclear policy.

You didn’t control the government.

You just tried to live your life.

Yet the history you lived through includes:

• your democracy overthrown

• decades of sanctions crippling your economy

• civilian airliners shot down

• your leaders assassinated

• your country bombed repeatedly

• your oil exports targeted

• your currency collapsing again and again

So when Iranian leaders call the United States a terrorist nation, many Americans dismiss it as propaganda.

But if you were the one living through this history…

You might see the world very differently.

⸻

Understanding this perspective does not mean supporting Iran’s government.

But history looks very different depending on where you stand.

And if we want peace, we have to understand how the people on the other side see the story.  

Shared from The Progressive Jew on Substack. I appreciate much of Robert Rosenthal's writing and his opposition to Zionism and support for the Palestinian cause.  Anti-Zionist Jews are crucial in the effort to get the US to sever ties with its proxy in the Middle East and stop arming it, and they are subject to a fair amount of abuse for doing so. I had a short communication with him earlier this year and shared my views on the Democratic Party as did he and I think we have some differences on this issue and I am not a Gavin Newsom fan. However, I think it's inevitable that the Democrats will make some huge gains in the primaries in the face of the Trump debacle. After all, in the electoral arena, there is nowhere else to turn at this point for most people. It will take a mass movement to stop this train going off the tracks. RM

Gavin Newsom, Palestine, and the Moral Test of 2028

ROBERT ROSENTHAL MAR 16

California governor Gavin Newsom and me in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

In my Facebook newsfeed, I noticed Gavin Newsom – the California governor and likely 2028 presidential candidate – was coming to Rock Hill, SC: a popular stop for White House hopefuls just south of my home in Charlotte, NC.

He was visiting as part of the promotional tour for his new book, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery. I assumed the $49 ticket (hardcover included) would mean an “intimate” crowd – and a chance to chat with Gavin Newsom about Palestine‑Israel. I RSVP’d on Eventbrite and saved the event on my calendar.

On the day of the event, I hoped to stop work early to write up what I wanted to cover with the governor, but I had a busy day, so I quickly typed up a short speech/question. In it, I let Newsom know I’m the publisher of The Progressive Jew on Substack and a Jewish Voice for Peace member; I called defense of Israel a “political loser” for the eventual 2028 Democratic nominee; I urged him to oppose arms and other aid to Israel, not just for political reasons, but because groups like B’Tselem, the acclaimed Israeli human rights organization, have concluded that Israel is committing genocide; and I added that arming a genocide is illegal, which ought to matter in the United States. I said the stakes are enormous and asked if we could count on him.

With that brief address stuffed into my front pocket, I skipped through the double doors of McGirt Auditorium at 6:34 p.m. for the 6:30 event and was surprised to find a packed house of at least 750 Newsom fans. After the governor engaged in a fascinating conversation with former DNC chair Jaime Harrison for 90 minutes, he walked offstage – without taking any questions.

As I was putting on my jacket to leave, I noticed cell phones being hoisted next to the front‑left corner of the stage and suspected it was either Harrison … or Newsom.

Subscribed

Face‑to‑Face With Gavin Newsom

It was the latter. I flashed my “Cal State Northridge” sweatshirt under my jacket for the California governor. Displaying my alma mater’s name seemed to build some initial rapport. I told Newsom who I was and asked if I could read an important question I’d hoped to ask. He told me to go ahead. But as soon as I started, he half‑listened while carrying on another conversation.

Unaccustomed to that behavior, I stopped and asked if he could hear me. Newsom said he could. Just then, a staffer told me to hand her the written question, and another tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to type my cell number into his phone. He instantly texted me to let me know I’d be getting a response.

That response hasn’t appeared on my iPhone just yet. This made me wonder if Team Newsom is adept at brushing aside anti‑Zionist Jews and other Free Palestine advocates during his public appearances.

I concluded that I should offer more guidance to Newsom and other potential 2028 presidential candidates on Palestine‑Israel right here, in The Progressive Jew. After all, politicians like Newsom certainly hear from more than enough Zionists, right?

A New Poll Makes Israel Officially Toxic for Democrats

Generations of Democratic politicians believed they had a very good reason to “StandWith” Israel: polls suggested Democratic voters were firmly on Israel’s side. Well, as you can see, that’s no longer the case.

Twenty‑eight months into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Democratic support has flipped. According to recent Gallup polling, 65% of Democrats sympathize more with Palestinians, and just 17% sympathize more with Israelis. That’s the whole Democratic Party, friends – not just the party’s progressive wing.

And get this: the Gallup poll was taken before the illegal, immoral, and highly unpopular war of aggression by Israel and the U.S. in Iran began.

I imagine right about now, some Zionist readers may be saying things like, “How many Democrats actually care about Palestinians?” At a time when the two major parties remain fairly evenly divided, Palestine‑Israel is absolutely a vote‑moving issue capable of tilting elections.

Just look at recent history.

The Autopsy of the 2024 Election the DNC Didn’t Want You to See

Last month, Axios revealed that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) discreetly conducted research on how a twice‑impeached authoritarian and convicted felon who led an insurrection after losing the 2020 election managed to receive 77 million votes in the 2024 election and return to the Oval Office.

Axios said: “Top Democratic officials who worked on the party’s still‑secret autopsy of the 2024 election concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration’s approach to the war in Gaza.”

Not once during the campaign did Harris refer to Israeli apartheid as apartheid. Even worse, while Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza with U.S. arms, she never explicitly condemned Israeli atrocities. After meeting with Netanyahu, the then‑VP said, “We cannot turn a blind eye to the heartbreaking images of dead children and desperate families … we must not become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”

It was a cautious political response rather than a moral one – and, given the stakes, it was inexcusable.

As an attorney, the #2 official in the Biden administration, and the Democratic standard‑bearer, Harris obviously wanted her comments on the genocide to be measured. She understood that Israel had been plausibly accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the case was moving through The Hague, but she continued to describe the carnage as if it were a natural disaster.

With the approval of her boss (Joe Biden), she could have said something like: “Israel is responsible for these disgusting attacks on the people, property, and infrastructure in Gaza, and we have to be honest about that. The allegations against Israeli leaders and the Israeli government are gravely serious, and we must be clear that the United States cannot continue supplying weapons – especially while these attacks on the people of Gaza continue and these charges of potential genocide are under international review at the ICJ.”

That wouldn’t have brought every progressive to Harris’s side, but it would likely have enabled her to keep much of the party’s progressive base while leading with integrity. Instead, she calibrated her comments on the genocide to please the Israel lobby – including a circle of Zionist mega‑donors.

You know the rest of the story.

Gavin Newsom Really, Truly Used the “A”-Word

Eight days after our encounter in Rock Hill, during the Los Angeles stop on his tour, Gavin Newsom was asked by Pod Save America host Jon Favreau: “Do you think, looking down the road, that the United States should consider maybe, you know, rethinking our military support for Israel?” Newsom answered: “It breaks my heart, because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice about that consideration.”

In the same exchange, while discussing the Israeli apartheid leader and war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, Newsom dropped a bombshell when he said of Israel: “Some are talking about it appropriately as sort of an apartheid state.”

Let’s ponder this for a moment. That guy is the governor of America’s most populous state – a man at or near the top of early polling for the 2028 Democratic nomination – and he hinted, on the record, that he’s considering not arming Israel if he wins the big prize. And by attaching the “A”-word to Israel, Gavin Newsom did something Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton have never done in public: refer to Israel as an apartheid state.

Those Democratic leaders absolutely knew about the West Bank’s prison walls, guard towers, checkpoints, and other hideous elements of Israeli apartheid. Then why were they unwilling to call it what it was? Traditionally, Democrats and Republicans were convinced that utterances like that would prompt the Israel lobby to destroy another political career by calling a supporter of equal rights a Jew‑hater. Newsom understood the risks, but he stood on the side of basic decency anyway.

It wasn’t the first time.

A Straight Mayor Courageously Championed Same‑Sex Marriage

On February 12, 2004 – more than a decade before the Supreme Court’s marriage‑equality ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges – San Francisco’s 36‑year‑old heterosexual mayor began marrying LGBTQIA couples.

During what came to be known as the “Winter of Love,” Gavin Newsom was responsible for about 4,000 same‑sex marriages in that city.

Newsom framed it as a civil rights decision – one worth risking his career for. Just as the Black freedom struggle led by Dr. King, the global movement to end South African apartheid, and the LGBTQIA rights movement he helped advance all captured the world’s conscience, so has the Palestinian liberation movement.

A Social Justice Movement Winning Hearts and Minds Everywhere

Free Palestine is the social justice movement of our time, and Gavin Newsom may soon have a chance to help end 78 years of Israeli oppression. Or he can resemble politicians like Josh Shapiro, who’s still playing tired Zionist games by recently asking Josh Greene if Israel has a “right to exist,” acting as if the problem is largely confined to “Bibi,” and claiming to support a “two‑state solution” in another 78 or 780 years.

Someone should tell Shapiro that Israel exists, but it has no right to oppress a people based on religion and ethnicity to maintain an ethnostate with exclusive rights for members of one faith. 

Palestinians have a right to exist and not keep being subjected to ethnic cleansing, ghettoization, erasure, occupation, apartheid, and genocide. Palestinians deserve equal rights in their homeland – whether Zionists like it or not.

What Gavin Newsom Shouldn’t and Should Do Next

While speaking with Zionists, Newsom shouldn’t keep repeating what he told Ben Shapiro six weeks before his Pod Save America appearance: that Israel “is not committing a genocide.” Nor should he lapse into Kushner‑esque code about Palestinians “living in dignity” while Israel maintains a system of Jewish supremacy. 

As a presidential candidate, he should honor his recent pledge and not accept donations from the Israel lobby.

Newsom likes to joke that he’s a flawed man with gelled hair. The question now is whether that self-described, far-from-perfect politician is willing to be the rare leader who boldly breaks with Zionist orthodoxy and stands openly for Palestinian freedom.

The governor should live by the Golden Rule, which is also a quintessentially Jewish thing to do, and demand freedom, equality, and justice for long‑suffering Palestinians. He should publicly support the right of refugees ethnically cleansed by Zionists to return to their homeland and reject the racist Zionist belief that Jews from Brooklyn with no traceable connection to that land should have a “right of return” while Palestinians holding deeds to homes confiscated by Israel with zero compensation should not.

Gavin should tell Republicans on the fence about the MAGA movement that “America First” doesn’t mean sending Israel roughly $18 billion in military aid in the last year, in addition to a standing $3.8 billion per year commitment. He should remind independent voters that Israel has universal healthcare, paid maternity leave, and a national child allowance – and the U.S. doesn’t.

For the perceived crime of supporting Palestinian equality, Newsom will no doubt be called an “antisemite” by Zionists (it’s what they do to Israel’s critics – religiously). But if Newsom stands with Palestinian victims of Israeli oppression, progressive Jews will remind those Zionists that Jews are supposed to stand with the oppressed and never with an oppressor. In short, they’ll call bullshit.

In 2028, ending Trumpian fascism in America and Israeli oppression in Palestine must be priorities – not catering to the selfish demands of the Israel lobby and once again failing a hugely important moral test.

If you’ve been moved by this post, please share it. And if you haven’t subscribed to The Progressive Jew, please take a free subscription. The Progressive Jew is for people of all faiths and of none. Thank you for your support. 

How Israel is censoring reporting on the war

From 972 Magazine

‘Our coverage is not truthful’: How Israel is censoring reporting on the war

Barred from publishing details of Iranian missile impacts or interceptions, local and international journalists are struggling to tell the full story. 

By Oren ZivMarch 13, 2026

Israeli rescue and emergency forces at the scene where shrapnel from a ballistic missile fired from Iran fell in Yehud, March 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

In partnership with

Since the start of the war with Iran, the Israeli military has imposed strict censorship regulations on local and international media outlets operating inside the country, severely impeding journalists’ ability to cover the situation on the ground. 

Reporters and networks are prohibited from publishing the precise location of Iranian missile impacts, or even filming or photographing the extent of the damage in a way that could give away the location — restrictions designed, in the words of the army’s chief censor Col. Netanel Kula, “to prevent assistance to the enemy during wartime.”

Outside of wartime, Israeli law already gives the military censor the authority to prevent certain information from being published, even retroactively. This can include aspects of Israel’s arms deals or intelligence activities, among other security-related topics. 

Subscribe to The Landline

+972's weekly newsletter

But just as it did during the “12-Day War” last June, the censor has tightened its restrictions amid the current U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The police have already detained several journalists it deemed to be violating these censorship regulations.

In an unclassified document published on March 5, Kula instructed journalists to submit anything related to the following topics to the censor for review prior to publication: operational matters, intelligence, defensive preparedness, impact sites in Israel, armament management (including munitions and interceptor stockpiles, aircraft and air defense systems readiness, and the employment and use of unique and classified weaponry), and operational vulnerabilities in defense and offense. 

“Consideration must also be given to the publication of visual materials, such as photographs and videos, which must also be submitted for prior review,” Kula added.

A crater caused by an Iranian missile that landed in Tel Aviv, February 28, 2026. (Oren Ziv)

These restrictions have created some absurd situations for journalists. In one case known to +972 Magazine, an Iranian missile hit its target while fragments struck a nearby educational facility. Yet the media was only allowed to report on the latter, without being able to even mention the former or inspect the damage.

In another case, journalists were documenting damage to a residential building when a man who likely worked for a security agency told police to instruct the journalists there not to film the actual target of the strike, which was behind them. The officer replied that the journalists would not have noticed it if they were not told, since most of the damage was to the civilian building.

Several senior staff members in international media organizations operating in Israel told +972 that the censor’s restrictions have made it difficult to maintain normal reporting routines.

One example concerns live feeds of wide shots from cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that international news agencies provide for use by broadcasters worldwide. During Iranian missile attacks, the agencies are prohibited from showing where Israeli interceptor missiles are launched from, meaning they must either cut the broadcast or tilt the camera downward toward the street so the skyline is not visible.

A senior figure at one news agency said that after cutting the live feed, they sometimes send footage of incoming missiles and interceptions to the censor for approval. The censor has barred several of these clips from publication, including a failed interception and a missile fragment continuing its trajectory. 

The censor has also rejected still photographs showing interceptor launches, including long-exposure nighttime images that do not reveal precise locations.

Anti-missile batteries fire interceptors toward incoming ballistic missiles launched from Iran, as seen over Tel Aviv, March 7, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

“It’s hard to understand what is actually happening,” a senior manager at a foreign media outlet working in Israel explained. “In a lot of cases, we have official reports that there were no strikes or damage only to discover later that a target was hit. We can’t report or confirm so we don’t know if it happened or not. 

“We have a partial understanding of the reality on the ground,” the senior manager admitted. “Our coverage of the war is not truthful.”

‘Masked security personnel told me what not to film’

Criticism of the tightened censorship regulations is not limited to the international media. On the evening of March 11, Hezbollah launched its most intense volley of rocket fire since the start of the Iran war; Israeli media outlets knew about this in advance, but were barred from publishing the story.

“The censor rejected information I had this evening about the possibility that Hezbollah may try to intensify its fire toward Israel,” Channel 12’s Nitzan Shapira wrote that night. “Later in the evening, the same information was published on CNN, and only then were we able to report it.

“This is exactly the problem with this conduct,” he continued. “Instead of residents of the State of Israel receiving real-time information that could help them prepare and get ready in a basic way, the information was censored, and the Israeli public finds itself once again getting updated by American media outlets. An absurd situation.” 

An armed police officer at the scene of an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv, March 1, 2026. (Oren Ziv)

The following morning, the IDF Spokesperson apologized, saying it was “wrong not to update the public.”

As in the previous Iran war, journalists have also been detained in the course of their work. Two journalists from CNN Türk were briefly detainedwhile broadcasting live near the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

At one missile impact site in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, I saw members of the local civilian security squad — one of hundreds of armed volunteer groups that the Israeli government has established since the October 7 attacks to expand its policing effort — checking journalists’ credentials, even though police had already cleared them. “Let’s make sure there are no spies here,” the squad commander called out to his colleagues. 

The commander acknowledged, however, that they have no control over ordinary citizens filming on their phones and spreading footage on social media.

At another impact site in central Israel last week, a man claiming to be a police volunteer demanded to see journalists’ press credentials. After identifying a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem who works for a foreign network, he accused him — without evidence — of transmitting the locations of missile strikes.

During the war last summer, the right-wing activist known as “The Shadow” and members of his civilian security squad unlawfully detainedforeign and Palestinian journalists at an impact site in Tel Aviv. Authorities later instructed them not to interfere with journalists.

“After two and a half years of war, including the war with Iran in the summer, you already have experience of what you can and can’t document, and what the censor will reject,” another journalist from an international outlet explained. 

A view of the damage caused to a satellite station in the Elah Valley by a missile fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon the previous day, March 10, 2026. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)

“Last summer, I published a report from an impact site but the censor called and ordered us to take it down,” the journalist continued. “So now, when I arrive at the scene of a missile impact, almost automatically I document and report only what I know is allowed.”

One morning during this war, the journalist added, “I arrived at one of the impact sites hit overnight in central Israel, and masked security personnel came and told me what not to film.”

As a result of the restrictions, journalists are having to find creative ways to get information out to the public. On the evening of March 10, Hezbollah fired two rockets into Israel; while media outlets were barred from publishing the locations of the impacts, some, including Ynet, quoted a statement by Hezbollah saying they had targeted a satellite station near Beit Shemesh, and included a video that Hezbollah shared which had been taken from social media.