Today, the President of the United States once again repeated his and his predecessors' usual tiresome accusations, charging Iran with supporting terrorism. When US officials accuse Iran of "state terrorism," they are, in fact, through a psychological projection, presenting an image of their own decades of violent and illegal conduct to public opinion for judgment. This is the same defensive psychological mechanism of projection that has become a familiar strategy in the foreign policy of certain governments and politicians. To understand this claim, one need not turn to America's enemies; a look at official documents and research conducted within the US itself suffices.
Terror and Coup d'état: A Consistent Pattern in US Foreign Policy
The US has a long history of assassinating elected and independent leaders of other nations. Investigations by the Church Committee – the Senate Select Committee in 1975 – officially revealed that the CIA had plotted to assassinate political leaders in several countries, including Cuba (Fidel Castro), Congo (Patrice Lumumba), the Dominican Republic (Rafael Trujillo), and Vietnam (Ngo Dinh Diem). Declassified documents show that the CIA maintained an executive action capability for carrying out extrajudicial assassinations. According to the committee's final report, between 1960 and 1970, the United States was involved in several assassination plots.
Regarding Iran, the open case of the assassination of Martyr Lieutenant General Haj Qasem Soleimani, carried out on the direct orders of the US President, is just one prominent and clear example. Prior to that, the downing of the Iranian Airbus passenger plane over the Persian Gulf in 1988 (1367 SH), resulting in the martyrdom of its 290 passengers, and the attack on the Iranian commercial vessel "Iran Ajr" in 1987 (1366 SH), leading to the martyrdom of 4 sailors and the hostage-taking of 25 others, are part of US state terrorism against Iran. The assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in March 2026 (Esfand 1404) along with a number of his companions, family members, and several political officials and scientific figures is also part of the dark record of the US government's resort to terrorist acts. Furthermore, Trump's repeated statements about delivering weapons to anti-revolutionary separatist and terrorist Kurdish groups for use inside the country are nothing short of an explicit confession to Washington's role in supporting terrorists.
Support for International Terrorism: Terrorists Called "Freedom Fighters"!
The Nicaragua case before the International Court of Justice in 1986 is one of the clearest historical condemnations of the US for violating international law and employing state terrorism. The ICJ condemned the US for training, financing, and providing logistical support to the "Contra" rebel groups, which committed savage atrocities against civilians and terrorist acts. Washington not only ignored this ruling but also vetoed the Security Council resolution.
After the Cold War, this pattern did not stop. In Afghanistan, the US gave billions of dollars in weapons and funding to the so-called Mujahideen fighters (including groups that later formed the core of Al-Qaeda). Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former National Security Advisor, explicitly confirmed that aid to the Mujahideen began before the Soviet invasion to trap the Soviets. The same individuals who later, wearing the clothes of Al-Qaeda, became symbols of terrorism, were yesterday, with CIA funding and training, "freedom fighters."
Direct Violent Actions: From Cuba to Drones
Operation Mongoose and Terrorism against Cuba: In the 1960s, the CIA trained groups of Cuban exiles to bomb hotels, farms, and industrial facilities. This same terrorist network was later responsible for the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner, killing 73 people. Leaders of these groups, such as Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, lived freely in Florida with the support and connivance of the US judicial system. Bosch was pardoned by George H.W. Bush in 1990, and Posada was only arrested for illegal entry, not terrorism.
Use of Drones and Extrajudicial Assassinations: From the Bush administration through Obama, the US ran an extensive drone assassination program in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Research indicates that 15-30% of the victims of these strikes were civilians. John Brennan, Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, implicitly acknowledged that these strikes led to the unintentional killing of innocent citizens. These actions, which under international law are instances of extrajudicial execution and sometimes state terrorism, continue to this day.
Support for Terrorist-Nurturing Dictatorships
In Latin America, the US supported "Plan Lazo" in Colombia in the 1960s, leading to the formation of right-wing paramilitary groups known as anti-communist armies. These groups committed torture, forced disappearances, and the assassination of tens of thousands of peasants, union members, and leftist activists. In El Salvador and Guatemala, US-backed paramilitaries committed genocide against indigenous peoples for decades. In 1966, the first death squad in Guatemala was created and directly supervised by US security agents.
Decades of Aggression, Murder, and Assassination of Palestinians by Israel with Full US Support
Washington claims to fight terrorism while fully supporting Israeli state terrorism against Palestinians for decades. On one hand, by vetoing Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the US has effectively given a green light to the Israeli regime's war crimes. On the other hand, it provides Israel with billions of dollars annually in military aid. Total US military aid to Israel from 2023 to 2025 amounted to 21 billion dollars. Financial and military aid which, along with diplomatic support in the Security Council, constitutes direct US participation in crimes that international bodies have described as genocide, deliberate starvation, and crimes against humanity. The continuation of Israel's atrocities, killing over 72,000 Palestinians from October 2023 to the present, would never have been achieved without Washington's support. Washington, as the official backer of the murder and assassination of Palestinians since then, must answer to history, public opinion, and the courts.
State Terrorism; A Label Stamped on America's Forehead
Due to its power of influence, military budget, and veto power in the Security Council, the US has become the largest and most immune supporter of state terrorism in contemporary history. Today's and yesterday's claims by the US President about Iran are not an intelligence mistake but a calculated strategy called "escape forward," to hide their failures in the illegal war against Iran and an attempt to justify the unjustifiable domestically and internationally.
The era of such nonsense is over. The US's extrajudicial behavior for its own benefit is so naked and clear, and such a repetitive pattern, that these claims by US officials, instead of helping them, make them more disgraceful. The truth is clear and cannot be hidden.