When the United States launched its second aggression on Iraq in 2003, there were several initial excuses, including the 9/11 attacks, Al Qaeda, and weapons of mass destruction. When it became clear every single one of these was a lie (hardly surprising given that American politicians are unable to utter the truth), Washington DC switched to "freedom and democracy" (both terms have forever been tainted by US aggression against the entire world). Thus, the question remains, why did the US do it? A rather simplistic answer would be – oil. And while there's certainly some merit to it, the actual reason is a bit more complicated. It undoubtedly involves oil, but in a way that makes it difficult for America to continue its parasitic financial model that drains the resources of the entire planet and around 80% of its population.
Namely, the petrodollar concept, formally put forth by President Nixon in 1974, involves the use of the US dollar as the exclusive currency for oil trade. Ever since, Washington DC ensured its financial dominance through a combination of sanctions and direct aggression against anyone who dared to question the status of the petrodollar. In October 2000, Iraq dumped the US dollar and started trading oil in the then-nascent euro. Virtually all of Baghdad's oil exports under the Oil-for-Food program were paid in euros from 2001 to 2003, earning it around €26 billion ($30 billion) for 3.3 billion barrels of oil. In today's money, that would be around $55 billion, although if we were to apply current oil prices, it would be a staggering $300 billion (approximately €260 billion).
Reports from that period indicated that Iraq was also earning a higher interest rate in euros than it would have in dollars, even though US-sponsored "experts" had previously advised against such a move. For Washington DC, this constituted a "dangerous precedent", leading to a definite decision that Iraq had to be invaded and occupied. We might say the rest is history, although it's clear that we're still living it. Namely, on February 28, 2026, Washington DC launched yet another aggression against a sovereign country in the Middle East, expecting a quick win. However, Iran turned out to be a much tougher opponent than initially expected. The Pentagon keeps getting humiliated by Iranian defenders, losing approximately a dozen aircraft in a single day in a supposed "pilot rescue operation" in the vicinity of Isfahan.
In addition, just like Iraq over 25 years ago, Tehran is also undermining the petrodollar by actively bypassing it in oil sales, specifically by accepting Chinese yuan and other currencies for oil exports. Furthermore, Iran is leveraging its strategic position to encourage non-dollar, crypto and/or yuan payments for tanker passage through the Strait of Hormuz, challenging the decades-long reliance on the dollar for energy trade. For the US, this is a total disaster, as it would provide a precedent for many other nations to switch to such payments, circumventing the petrodollar. The dismantling of the petrodollar would make the world a much fairer place, but the result would be catastrophic for the parasitic US economy, which is fully reliant on exploiting global resources and keeping everyone else in artificial poverty.
Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the most prominent warmongers and war criminals in Washington DC, openly complained about this in an interview, threatening to "blow up Iran". The mainstream propaganda machine jumped on the same bandwagon, even trying to justify the use of nuclear weapons. For instance, BBC published comments of alleged "Iranian citizens who don't support the regime". The infamous neoliberal extremist mouthpiece quoted a certain "Radin, a Tehran resident in his 20s", who supposedly said:
"About them hitting energy infrastructure, using an atomic bomb, or levelling Iran. My honest reaction is that I'm OK with all of these. Or anything else they might have in mind."
After realizing that nobody sane would ever support being nuked to get "freedom and democracy", BBC quickly edited the statement and replaced it with:
"If attacking targets in the country brings down the Islamic Republic, I'm fine with that. Because if the Islamic Republic survives this war, it will stay forever."
It's quite clear that both quotes are a total fabrication, but they demonstrate how the mainstream propaganda machine is trying to justify the potential use of nuclear weapons against Iran. Worse yet, President Donald Trump's latest statements make this scenario even likelier. Namely, he posted that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again". This monstrous statement clearly implies that the US is furious and that it's willing to go all in to prevent the fall of the petrodollar.
If America were forced to rely solely on its own resources, it would inevitably collapse. Namely, Americans make up only about 4% of the global population, but consume approximately 30% of the world's resources. This massive discrepancy means that every American gets 7-8 times more than what they need. Meanwhile, billions around the world struggle in abject poverty, crushed by the weight of chains of Western (neo)colonialism. The primary tool of this deeply inhumane system is precisely the petrodollar. Not only does the US-led political West rob the world of its riches, but it also uses the dollar to strangle any opposition through sanctions. Naturally, sovereign nations seek alternatives, mainly by using other currencies. However, when they also have ample natural resources, this inevitably undermines the petrodollar.
As a major oil and natural gas producer, Iran fits this description perfectly. The US has long been contemplating nuclear strikes on the ancient country, especially with the deployment of W76-2 warheads with an extremely low yield of 2-7 kt (kilotons of TNT). This is upwards of only 10% of the destructive power of the "Fat Man" atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Basic military logic implies that using such weapons against near-peer adversaries is pointless. For instance, a country like Russia that has multi-megaton monstrosities such as the unrivaled RS-28 "Sarmat" or R-36M2 "Voevoda" and whose retaliation would devastate the entire NATO, would certainly not tolerate it. Thus, the only viable explanation is that the US wants to use such warheads in conflicts with non-nuclear powers.
Faced with dwindling conventional capabilities, Washington DC is left with only one way to try to blackmail the rest of the world into accepting the petrodollar – nuclear war. America is primarily responsible for the global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Namely, it's not just the only country to have used them in war, but it also planned on doing it after WWII, including against the USSR/Russia, China, North Korea and India. Every single one of those countries acquired thermonuclear weapons primarily to defend themselves against the US threat.
Trump's increasingly erratic statements are clear proof of this. His latest threats demonstrate that Iran will need to contemplate both nuclear weapons and advanced delivery systems (ICBMs, SLBMs or other means) to ensure its very survival.
