From the overthrow of the country’s leader in 1953 to relentless sanctions today, the US’s treatment of Iran is a moral depravity.
It is no secret that the US has bullied Iran, especially in recent years. The Trump Administration is no exception. During Donald Trump’s presidential bid, he rebuked President Obama’s 2015 Nuclear Deal, claiming “the Iranians are going to cheat.”
He then withdrew from the Nuclear Deal on May 8, after which he slapped more oil sanctions on Iran. Trump’s move blighted Iran’s oil exports, which has fallen 35 percent since April.
The celebrity-turned president’s starkly undiplomatic moves succeeded in crippling Iranian oil exports.
The withdrawal elicited severe consequences for the US as well.
Since the Nuclear Deal, Boeing, Schlumberger, an American oil drilling company  and General Electric took on business in Iran.
Boeing declared that its $17 billion deal would “support tens of thousands of US jobs directly,” and attributed the job growth to the Iran Deal.
However, when the US pulled out from the nuclear agreement, Boeing deferred its product deliveries to Iran, which may have halted the creation of those of jobs.
International trade is imperative for economic success. It boosts job growth, quality of life and increases competition, which ultimately lowers costs of goods. The US’s shift from the Iran Deal deters these benefits. Its abandonment harms Americans and Iranians alike.
In defense of his policies, Trump claimed the US “protect[s] the countries of the Middle East, [and] they would not be safe for very long without us.”
Yet, following the “liberation” of Iraq, as many a neoconservative phrase it, IS formed, and other terrorist outfits were strengthened. The US’s actions not only failed to protect the nation, but may have spiked the number of terrorists through its high civilian casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned the US’s actions against Iran.
“Let’s be frank, such oil prices are to some extent the result of the US administration. I’m talking about sanctions against Iran… just looking at problems in Libya,” Putin stated.
Trump’s anti-Iran rhetoric is unwaveringly hostile and sinister. While the US continues to perpetually threaten the Islamic Republic, Trump finalized a near $1 billion deal with Saudi Arabia in 2017.
Saudi Arabia: the country which has ruthlessly bombed many Yemenis. The government was responsible for air-striking a school bus which claimed 40 youth lives in August. Saudi Arabia’s constant bombardment of Yemen has contributed to a death toll of at least 10,000, according to the United Nations. Yet the US continues to make deals with the Kingdom, instead blaming Iran for conflict in the Middle East.
Some of the US president’s statements against Iran have worsened.  “[If Iran] ever, ever threaten[s] the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before,” Trump tweeted Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, in all capital letters.
Trump’s cries followed Rouhani’s statements that any “war with Iran would be the mother of all wars.”
While the Iranian president’s response seems defensive, Rouhani is striving to counter Trump’s grisly “the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” remark. If “few throughout history” have suffered these consequences, Trump is not referring to sanctions. He may be threatening war and the ravage of Iran.
On Sep. 22, two men clad in army uniforms opened fire on a military parade in Tehran, claiming 25 lives and wounding 20. Of the deceased were Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard soldiers and civilian spectators. The so-called Islamic State would later claim responsibility for the attack, but Iran’s government would charge the US for the murders.
The likelihood that the US directly caused the attack is small, but American involvement in the matter is likely. The White House’s animosity towards the Islamic Republic and the Islamic State’s desire to raze Iran are evident. Although IS wants to also attack the US, as seen in their 2017 propaganda poster purporting to attack New York’s Times Square, they despise their Shia neighbors even more.
And if the American government wants to disempower Iran, there would be no more effective method than empowering IS.
The Iranian government certainly agrees.
Their foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, tweeted that “Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable.”
Even though Zarif’s claim that the US government officials are “terrorists masters” is far fetched, the US has made no strong efforts to protect Iran from IS or any other terrorists.
Yet Trump claimed that the US protects the Middle East.
America’s incessant threats against Iran, withdrawal from the Nuclear Deal and crippling sanctions on Iran make the US a needless enemy to the theocracy. In order to keep peace, the US ought to rejoin the Nuclear Deal. Neither America nor Iran benefit from sanctions. Job growth, better quality of life, cheaper goods and peace are all dependent on an understanding between the two countries.