JAKARTA – On January 2, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military intervention against Iran on his Truth Social platform, using the phrase "locked and loaded." This declaration of intent to interfere in a sovereign nation's internal affairs was blatant, yet it represented a familiar pattern in the history of American intervention in Iran.

The beginning of American intervention in Iran

In fact, America has a long history of interference in Iran's internal affairs. August 19, 1953, marked a turning point in the history of Iranian-American relations. Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the CIA and British intelligence agency MI6. The primary reason was Mossadegh's daring to nationalize Iran's oil industry, which had been controlled by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company for decades.

Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt and the CIA agent who led the operation, brought suitcases filled with cash to Tehran to bribe newspaper editors, pay off street protesters, and create a fake communist party as a scapegoat, killing approximately 300 people in Tehran. Propaganda through the media, leaflets, and Tehran's clerical network was used to undermine Mossadegh's government by any means necessary.

Mossadegh was subsequently arrested, sentenced to three years in prison, and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest until his death in 1967. For twenty-five years (1953-1979), America fully supported the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. And as a thank you for American aid, the Shah handed over 40 percent of Iran's oil fields to American companies.

Enduring sanctions

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 transformed Iran from a key American ally back into an ideological enemy. When the hostage crisis began on November 4, 1979, the Americans had no formal sanctions against Iran, but President Carter immediately sought ways to pressure Tehran. Ten days later, Carter signed Executive Order 12170, freezing approximately $8 billion in Iranian government assets in the United Stated. 

This was the first use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which gave the president broad authority to impose economic sanctions. From then on, sanctions became Washington's primary weapon against Tehran, a pattern that continues to this day.

The most shameful form of American intervention occurred during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). When Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in September 1980, Washington saw an opportunity to weaken the fledgling Islamic government. The U.S. provided support to Iraq in the form of billions of dollars in economic aid, dual-use technology, intelligence sharing, and special operations training.

After the Iran-Iraq War ended, the U.S. shifted its strategy from supporting Iran's enemies to outright isolating Tehran. In 1995, President Clinton banned American companies from participating in oil deals with Iran. This was reinforced by the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996, which established multilateral sanctions against Iran as federal law.

The Bush era brought further escalation. In 2007, ABC News reported that President Bush had authorized a $400 million covert operation to foment unrest in Iran. According to The Daily Telegraph, the CIA also provided support to the terrorist organization Jundullah, which attacked military sites, government bodies, and sometimes ordinary civilians. 

American sanctions against Iran are a form of economic warfare that have devastated the lives of millions of civilians. Since 1979, sanctions have targeted Iran's energy, banking, and trade sectors.

According to estimates by the Iranian Ministry of Labor and Social Services, sanctions have pushed one-third of Iranians into poverty. Inflation has reached 40 percent, unemployment has soared, and purchasing power has plummeted.

The irony is that to this day, America still enforces sanctions that are destroying the Iranian economy, even as Iranians take to the streets to protest the economic hardship caused by these sanctions, and America wants to appear as a supporter of human rights and democracy.

Iran's struggle is our struggle

Following the success of Operation Ajax in Iran in 1953, the United States overthrew the democratic government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954. This was followed by interventions in the Congo (1960), Brazil (1964), Chile (1973), Uruguay (1973), Argentina (1976), and most recently, on January 3, 2026, the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in "Operation Absolute Resolve."

Seven decades of American intervention in Iran reveal an uncomfortable truth, imperialism never ended after the formal colonial era. It merely shifted from direct military occupation to economic control, from colonial administration to puppet regime, from gunboats to banking sanctions.

Trump's tweet on Truth Social about being "locked and loaded" was the climax of seven decades of systematic and calculated aggression. It was the culmination of a strategy that began with a CIA letter containing money in Tehran in 1953 and continued through the computer malware that damaged the nuclear centrifuges at Natanz.

The world must understand that what America did to Iran can and has done to any country that challenges Washington's hegemony. The pattern is always the same: demonization, isolation, destabilization, and, if possible, regime change.

For Indonesia and other non-aligned countries, Iran's struggle is a stark warning. National sovereignty must be protected through economic resilience, strategic independence, and the ability to counter information warfare. In an international system dominated by a single superpower, any country that refuses to submit will face a price.

Indonesia's foreign policy rests on the principle of "Free and Active" as enunciated by Mohammad Hatta in his speech "Rowing Between Two Reefs" in 1948. Indonesia is not tied to any power bloc and participates in achieving world peace.

When a major power invades a sovereign nation, Indonesia must act as an honest mediator, adhering to international law and the UN Charter. Indonesia does not take sides for practical political gain but must take a firm stance and condemn violations of a nation's territorial integrity, whether committed by the United States, Russia, or China.

Indonesia must ensure that the world order remains based on independence, freedom, and social justice, not solely on military power.

Bobby Ciputra is the Chairman of Indonesian Young Socialist Movement (Angkatan Muda Sosialis Indonesia - AMSI)