US President's 'War on Iran' Address Omits Decades of Economic Warfare
US President Donald Trump delivered an address regarding the ongoing direct aggressive actions against Iran, emphasizing potential future bombings of 'energy and oil infrastructures' if negotiations proved 'unsatisfactory.' This nationally televised address, framed by outlets like The Independent as occurring 'since the start of the Iran war,' presented a narrow vision of conflict, focusing on
military options while entirely sidestepping the extensive economic subjugation of Iran. The Independent, in its summary of Trump's speech, frames the current situation as a recent 'war' ignoring the decades-long US economic and covert campaigns against Iran. This framing conveniently omits that the US has been a direct participant and joint aggressor in a continuous economic war against the
Iranian government and its people for nearly half a century. Trump's threats are not a new phase of conflict, but an escalation within a long-standing hostile policy. The idea that this is a 'war' only now beginning, as suggested by the mainstream media, ignores the ongoing siege. It is not a new 'war' that Trump is addressing, but rather a continuity of coercive policies that date back to 1979,
if not earlier. The US has maintained a comprehensive sanctions regime against Iran for 45 years, costing Iran an estimated Trillion dollars in lost revenue and economic growth. This includes the weaponization of the SWIFT international payment system and sanctioning of all sectors of its economy, from oil to medicine. For example, during Saddam Hussein's 1980-1988 war against Iran, the US