Have Trump’s strikes reversed decades of US policy on Iran?

The US’s desire to pull out of the Middle East has empowered Tehran and its proxies over the last decade – is that all over now?

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN |JUNE 22, 2025

President Donald Trump and Secretaries Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth in the Situation Room, June 21, 2025.  (Photo by The White House – Twitter (direct download), Public Domain)

The US strikes on Iran early Sunday morning are a game-changer. They are not only a game-changer in terms of degrading Iran’s nuclear program; they also have shown that the US is willing to change course on a multi-decade policy of not striking Iran.

The US strikes are important because Iran has spent the past few decades killing and threatening Americans. Iran was behind the killing of Americans in Iraq, and Iranian proxies have targeted Americans throughout the region.

In addition, the Iranian regime came into power in 1980 with a US hostage crisis. As such, it has been at war with America for decades. It views this as a war via its “Death to America” chants.

The US, however, generally did not view it the same way. Over the past two decades, there have been many changes in US policy on Iran.

During the Obama administration’s era, there was an attempt to accommodate Iran. Some even saw this as going beyond merely appeasing Iran and instead seeking to empower it in the region.

Iran’s proxies disrupt the Middle East

In short, this enabled Tehran to seek hegemony in the region. Iran and its proxies attacked Saudi Arabia, and they threatened Israel. They took over parts of Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria.

Iran’s proxies were on steroids from roughly 2015 to 2023, when Hamas carried out the October 7 massacre.

The proxies did tremendous damage. They also were able to get countries to come to agreements.

Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen was rolled back by the Houthis. Riyadh agreed to a China-brokered deal to improve ties with Iran.

Many countries, seeing that the US was increasingly seeking to leave the Middle East, assumed they should come to terms with Iran. This handed Iran a lot of wins and enabled Tehran to think it was going to be able to march wherever it wanted.

The US strikes on Iran on Sunday have reversed these policies.

It isn’t the first time US President Donald Trump has confronted Iran. He also targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. He also exerted maximum pressure in terms of sanctions on Iran.

The US has refrained from attacks on Iran itself. In 2019, when Iran downed a US Global Hawk drone, the Americans did not carry out retaliatory attacks.

This drone was worth more than $200 million. Nevertheless, the first Trump administration decided not to retaliate with airstrikes.

The only major exception to the US decision over the decades not to confront Iran was Operation Praying Mantis in 1988. This naval operation in the Persian Gulf came in response to Iranian attacks on US ships and attacks on other ships.

The US Navy destroyed several Iranian facilities on oil platforms and sank several Iranian ships. The US suffered very limited losses.

This was an important incident, and it showed the US would respond if attacked. Subsequent Iranian-backed attacks, however, were not met with force.

Trump’s decision to carry out airstrikes on Sunday reversed decades of policy. Does this mean Iran will now be on the defensive in the region? It’s possible that this has changed the equation for many years to come.

 

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June 23, 2025 | Comments »

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