Demonization of Iran Is a "Mistake" That Has Trapped the U.S. in Perpetual Middle East Conflict

After the Biden administration launched airstrikes targeting an Iranian-backed militia in Syria and Iraq, military historian Andrew Bacevich says the United States needs to reassess its decades-long hostility toward Iran. The demonization of Iran is now a well-established reality of our contemporary politics. It's a mistake," he says. Over the past 40 years or so, we've decided that Iran needs to be classified as an evil power, and I think that that inclination makes it very difficult for us to come to a reasoned understanding of how we got so deeply enmeshed in the Persian Gulf and how it is that we end up basically in the pocket of the Saudis." Bacevich also discusses the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and warns that a Taliban takeover of the country could spark another refugee crisis.