IS THE US HEADED TO WAR WITH IRAN?

It’s an urgent question: Are the United States and Iran headed to war? According to MHCC political science instructor Tom Scales, the answer is “no.”

During another Historian’s Roundtable on Thursday, Jan. 30, several Mt. Hood instructors broke down the current conflict between the US and Iran.

Tensions between powerful countries have always existed, and will exist, as long as the human race. However, Scales performed a cost-and-benefit analysis, and after boiling the situation down to five main issues, said he does not believe it will escalate to a war.

The five reasons he lists:

• Self-Preservation: Iran does not want the regime change that could happen if it goes to war. 

• Regional Stability: Iran is currently one of the more powerful countries in the Middle East, and a war might disrupt that status quo.

• Regional Supremacy and Dominance: Iran has had more influence in other countries, as of late (Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, for example). Splitting its focus to worry about a war would not benefit those interests. 

• Domestic Political Support: Concerning the U.S. tensions, the Iranian government has received a lot of backlash from citizens. The country’s leaders are striving to maintain a good public image with their people and keep them on board with the nation’s bigger moves.

• Ideological Aspects: Iran has been working toward less western influence in the country for a long time. A big part of getting rid of that influence is for the U.S. to withdraw some of the troops it has had there for a long time. That will not happen if Iran goes to war with the U.S.

Another important thing to remember, noted during the discussion by Sustainability, Health & Safety instructor Javid Mohtasham, whose family comes from Iran, is that the Iranian people do not hate Americans.

As U.S. citizens, we see the propaganda fed to other countries for what it is, but somehow we miss the propaganda that is fed to us in order to keep us on board with our own country’s presumed agenda. 

If you have time, I would highly recommend watching Rick Steve’s ‘Trip to Iran” on PBS. The government of Iran and the government of the United States might have some things to sort out, but Iran people are humans, just like us. They are not our enemies.