As the United States and Iran enter what may be their last best chance at negotiations before a war against Tehran’s nuclear program, it is useful to remember that America has already fought one war with the Islamic Republic.
In the late 1980s, President Ronald Reagan intervened in the Iran-Iraq war on the side of Saddam Hussein to tilt the conflict to an Iraqi victory. America engaged in a bloody if undeclared naval and air war against Iran, while Iraq fought a brutal land war. The lessons of our first war with Iran should be carefully considered before we embark on a second.