The Ayatollahs’ War on America: It Erupted In 1979!

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” | March 23, 2026

Threat Assessment

*The 2026 Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community determines: “…. Iran has proven capable of developing lethal operations against Americans at home and abroad, and probably will attempt to pursue such efforts again if the current [regime] remains in power, and is able to rebuild…. Iran poses a threat to U.S. networks and critical infrastructure in the form of cyber espionage and cyber attacks…. China, Russia, and Iran are seeking to sustain economic, political, and military engagement with Latin America that may conflict with U.S. interests in the region…. Selective cooperation among China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea… is bolstering the threat that each of them poses to the U.S…..”

*According to the West Point Center for Combatting Terrorism: “Iran sees terrorism as an extension of foreign policy…. The primary pathways available to Iran in the US include deploying Iranian agents, criminal surrogates, terrorist proxies, or actively seeking to inspire lone offenders to carry out attacks within the homeland…. Iran and its proxies have spent years investing in a ‘homeland option’ here in the United States. In just the past five years, US authorities have disrupted at least 17 Iranian plots in the homeland…. In its 2025 Threat Assessment, the Director of National Intelligence assessed that Iran ‘remains committed to its decade-long effort to develop surrogate networks inside the United States….’ The Department of Homeland Security’s 2025 Threat Assessment [and the FBI] concurred, reporting that ‘we expect Iran to remain the primary sponsor of terrorism and continue its efforts to advance plots against individuals – including current and former US officials – in the US.’ Such plots have been on the rise in recent years…. In early 2024…, a network of [Iranian] individuals targeted Iranian dissidents and opposition activists [in the US] for assassination at the direction of the Iranian regime…. According to the FBI, Hezbollah has maintained a presence in the US since at least 1987.”

*The FBI has repeatedly called Iran the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, noting that Tehran and its proxies have mounted, or attempted plots, against dissidents and current and former US officials on US soil.

The Threat to the US is Independent of Israel

*Irrespective of the existence of Israel – which is considered by the Ayatollah regime as the US’ vanguard in the Middle East and a key strategic ally of the Sunni Arab regimes – the Ayatollah regime is guided by an anti-US and anti-Sunni apocalyptic ideology that transcends business/financial logic and diplomatic negotiation.

*Notwithstanding the 1978/79 pro-Ayatollah US policy, which provided a critical tailwind to Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution, the Ayatollah regime has been driven by a 1,400-year-old fanatic, apocalyptic anti-US ideology – underscored by the Ayatollah’s Constitution, school curriculum and mosque sermons – that mandates bringing “The Great American Satan” to submission.

*Regardless of Israel’s policy and ties with the US, the Ayatollah regime has entrenched itself since 1980 in Latin America, which it recognizes as “the soft underbelly” of the US. Thus, the Ayatollah regime collaborates with every anti-US government and drug cartels in Mexico and Columbia, bolstering their penetration of the US (e.g., supply of equipment to construct underground tunnels). It has also established terrorist training camps in the tri-border areas of Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil and Chile-Bolivia-Peru, which have evolved into a home-court of the Ayatollah regime and Hezbollah, generating billions of dollars through drug and arms trafficking and money laundering.

*Unrelated to Israel, the Ayatollah regime has been preoccupied, since the February 1, 1979 Islamic Revolution, with anti-US terrorism on US soil and abroad. For example:

• The November 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, and holding 50 Americans hostage for 444 days.
• The April and October 1983 Ayatollah-Hezbollah-Islamic Jihad involvement in the two car/truck bombs that destroyed the US Embassy and Marines barracks in Beirut, murdering 260 Americans.
• The March 1984 kidnapping and murder of the CIA Beirut Station Chief, William Buckley, by Iran-backed Islamic Jihad terrorists.
• TheSeptember 1984 Iran-backed Hezbollah car bomb attack at an annex of the US Embassy in Beirut, murdering 23 people, including 2 US servicemen.
• TheDecember 1984 Iran-controlled Hezbollah terrorists hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 221 on its way from Kuwait to Pakistan, diverting it to Tehran, murdering 2 US officials from the Agency for International Development (A.I.D.).
• The June 1985 Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists hijacking of TWA Flight 847 on its way from Athens to Rome, murdering a U.S. Navy diver.
• The July 1989 Hezbollah murdering of U.S. Marine Corps Col. William Higgins, who served on a UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
• The June 1996 Iran-controlled Hezbollah al Hijaz truck bomb blowing up the Saudi Khobar Towers residence, murdering 19 US Air Force servicemen.
• The August 1998 simultaneous al-Qaeda car bombing (in collaboration with Iran and Hezbollah) of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, murdering 224 people, including 12 Americans.
• While the 9/11 Commission did not establish that Iran was in the operational command chain, or detailed planning, of the Twin Towers Terrorism, the Manhattan U.S. federal court held (in the 2022/12 Havlish vs. Bin Laden et al) that Iran, senior Iranian leaders, the IRGC, Iran’s Intelligence Agency and Hezbollah were liable for “direct and material aid and support” to al?Qaeda in carrying out 9/11, awarding $7BN in judgment against Iran and Hezbollah.
• The 2003–2011 killing of 603 US troops in Iraq by the Ayatollah-controlled Iraqi Shiite terrorists.
• The December 2019 killing of a US civilian contractor by the Ayatollah-controlled Kataib Hezbollah terrorists at K1 Air Base in Kirkuk, Iraq.
• The January 2020 Iranian ballistic missile attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in Western Iraq, resulting in traumatic brain injuries to 109 U.S. troops.
• The March 2023 Iranian drone attack on a coalition military base in Syria, killing a US contractor.
• The  October-November, 2023 180 assaults by the Ayatollah regime and its proxies, killing 3 and wounding over 180 US servicemen in the Middle East.
• The January 2024 killing of 3 and wounding of 40 US soldiers by the Ayatollah-controlled Kataib Hezbollah terrorists in Jordan’s Tower 22 military base.
• The November 2024 Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump was preceded by attempts to assassinate former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, former Commander of CENTCOM General Kenneth McKenzie, former Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger and additional senior members of the US government.

The Bottom Line

In 1978/79, a self-destructive US policy paved the road to the emergence of the Ayatollah regime, which transformed Iran from “The American Policeman of the Gulf” to a leading global epicenter of anti-US wars, terrorism, drug trafficking and the proliferation of advanced military systems, severely eroding the US’ posture of deterrence, threatening the survival of all pro-US Arab regimes, enhancing the strategic posture of China and Russia, and fueling regional and global instability and conflicts.

In 2026, the US has an opportunity to correct the misguided 1978/79 policy by uprooting the Ayatollah regime. This is critical to bolstering the US’ posture of deterrence, restraining China, Russia, Turkey and the anti-US Sunni and Shiite Islamic terrorism, buttressing the Monroe Doctrine, removing the Ayatollah’s machete from the throats of all pro-US Arab regimes, preventing/minimizing wars and terrorism, expanding the Abraham Accords, and upgrading the US’ national and homeland security.

Forfeiting the opportunity for regime-change would boost the strategic posture of rivals and enemies of the US, paving the road to the first ever apocalyptic nuclear power, which would afflict humanity with catastrophic cost.

Support Appreciated