Why Iran Must Never Get the Bomb: A Forty-Year Record of American Bloodshed
From Beirut to Baghdad to U.S. soil, Iran’s war on Americans proves why Trump’s support for striking Iran’s nuclear program was both justified and necessary
Okay, so I am going to take a brief break from sports history to write about an important current event from a historical lens.
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the regime in Iran has revealed itself not merely as an adversary of American policy, but as a regime ideologically committed to anti-Americanism. Its hostility is not episodic—it is foundational. For more than four decades, Iran and its proxies have killed, maimed, kidnapped, and plotted against Americans, military and civilian alike. These actions are not relics of the past but persistent manifestations of a worldview rooted in revolutionary theocracy.
Iran was never enriching uranium to power a grid, it was enriching uranium to power a weapon. Intelligence assessments from the U.S., Israel, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Tehran had rapidly reached 60% uranium enrichment, an astonishing benchmark that only nuclear-armed nations pursue. Civilian nuclear programs do not require enrichment beyond 3–5%. Iran wasn’t signaling peaceful intent; it was preparing the groundwork for a bomb.
That is why President Donald J. Trump’s decision to support Israeli efforts in dismantling Iranian nuclear infrastructure wasn’t just bold—it was strategically necessary. Let’s not forget: in April of that same year, President Trump extended an opportunity for renewed negotiations. Tehran declined. They should have known who they were dealing with. As history shows, Trump doesn't bluff and Iran doesn’t back down until it’s forced to. Believing Iran would suddenly exercise restraint with nuclear weapons? That ignores forty years of blood-soaked history.
Beirut, 1983: Where It Began
April 1983 marked a shift. Iranian-directed terrorists, operating under the Hezbollah banner, bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, 17 of them Americans. This wasn’t improvisational terror; it was coordinated, approved, and celebrated in Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) played a foundational role. And they weren’t done.
In October, a suicide truck bomb tore through the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. 241 American service members were killed in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces since World War II. The fingerprints of the IRGC were all over it. This wasn’t just terrorism, it was Tehran’s calling card.
1989: The Murder of Col. Higgins
In 1989, Lt. Col. William Higgins was kidnapped and executed by Hezbollah while serving in a UN peacekeeping force. The message? No American, civilian, soldier, or diplomat, was off-limits. Iran didn’t merely tolerate it. It cultivated it. This was leverage by body count.
1996: Khobar Towers: A Deadly Reminder
Thirteen years after the Beirut bombings, Iran struck again. In June 1996, a truck bomb tore through the Khobar Towers housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. airmen. The attackers were members of Saudi Hezbollah—a group trained, equipped, and directed by the IRGC. This wasn’t rogue violence. It was state-sponsored terror with return-on-investment expectations. And once again, America blinked.
September 11, 2001: Iran’s Quiet Involvement
The hijackers of 9/11 were al-Qaeda operatives. But the 9/11 Commission revealed something darker beneath the headlines: Iran facilitated the travel of several of those hijackers, ensuring border agents didn’t stamp passports and helping terrorists pass unnoticed. Sunni or Shia, al-Qaeda or IRGC, it didn’t matter. Enemies of America find common cause. Iran didn’t need to hijack the planes. It opened the doors.
The Iraq War: Iran’s Deadliest Game
Between 2003 and 2011, Iran turned Iraq into a proving ground. The IRGC’s Quds Force armed, trained, and advised Shi’ite militias with one clear goal: kill Americans. Over 600 U.S. troops were murdered by Iranian-supplied explosively formed penetrators, EFPs designed to slice through American armor like it was paper. These weren’t sympathetic locals defending their turf. This was Iran, waging a proxy war with American blood.
What kind of nation funds and directs attacks on American troops, then claims victimhood in global diplomacy? And more urgently: why would the international community believe that this same regime would act differently if granted nuclear weapons?
2023: Drone War and Escalation
On March 23, 2023, an Iranian-made drone struck a U.S. base in Syria. One American contractor was killed. Five U.S. personnel were wounded. This wasn’t a fluke. It was doctrine. Iran’s drone program is a low-cost, deniable tool for lethal escalation. The drone didn’t carry a flag, but it carried intent.
2022–2025: Assassination Plots on American Soil
Recent years shattered any illusion that American soil was off-limits. Tehran’s targets have included former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, journalist Masih Alinejad, and even President Donald Trump. In 2025, a U.S. jury convicted two men working on Iran’s orders. These weren’t idle threats. They were war plans aimed at the heart of U.S. sovereignty.
The Pattern is the Point
Beirut. Baghdad. Washington, D.C. From drone strikes in Syria to assassination plots on our own streets, the Islamic Republic of Iran has pursued a singular objective: to undermine, maim, and kill Americans. Tehran doesn’t distinguish between civilians and soldiers. And if we ever forget that, the regime will remind us.
To suggest this regime, this history, could be trusted with nuclear weapons isn’t optimism. It’s delusion. Nuclear weapons wouldn’t tame Iran. They’d untether it. The strategic umbrella would embolden Hezbollah, Hamas, and every militia proxy on Tehran’s payroll. And the IRGC? It would become the most dangerous terror army on earth.
President Trump’s decision to support Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites wasn’t reckless; it was responsible. It wasn’t a provocation; it was a prevention. This begs the question: If Iran is willing to send assassins after U.S. officials and dissidents today, what deterrent do we have left if it holds nuclear weapons tomorrow? Iran has shown us, again and again, exactly who it is.
The only question is whether we believe it.
History doesn’t whisper warnings. It shouts. Loudly.
Iran cannot be allowed to go nuclear.
Because the cost of inaction won’t be theoretical.
It’ll be American lives.
And we’ve already lost too many.
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