Foreign Policy > Iran

How Epic Fury Enhances MAGA

The sooner we equip and train the Iranian patriots the sooner the U.S. military forces can withdraw, and the sooner that President Trump can focus on the America First agenda at home. 

Scott S. Powell | March 6, 2026

Not surprisingly there is early criticism from some quarters of President Trump’s base of supporters because of his decision to authorize massive regime-change military strikes on Iran. Such opposition is natural given Trump’s commitment to peace and his vocal “America First” policy orientation, an important part of which was ending wars and prioritizing domestic initiatives.

What these critics need to better appreciate is that sometimes circumstances and opportunities arise that require a change of course. What differentiates us from most of our adversaries is precisely that we want our government to be pragmatic and flexible rather than ideologically rigid. Additionally, with Iran being unwilling to negotiate an agreement to cease missile and nuclear bomb production, President Trump deemed Iran to be a lethal threat to U.S. national security. So, when negotiations failed, he took action that he believed was completely consistent with putting America first.

For the last 43 years the radical Shia Islamic regime in Iran has been at war with the United States, starting with the April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut killing 63, and six months later the U.S. Marines Beirut barracks bombing that killed 241 Marine service members. Total U.S. casualties from Iran-linked forces in this period has exceeded 1200. But the loss of American lives inflicted by the radical Iranian regime is much higher. Iran’s improvised explosive devices (IEDS) took many more American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan -- totaling more than 4,200, which was about 46% of all U.S. war zone deaths between 2006 and 2019. In........

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