Iran War (Corporate America)

The Iran War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the 2027 invasion of Iran led by the United States and the Schultz Administration to overthrow the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Spurred by supposed information proving Iran was four years from acquiring a nuclear weapon, the U.S led the United Kingdom, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Guatemala in an invasion of Persia.

Background
As with Venezuela, a nation toppled by NATO in 2025, Iran had been a global target of the United States for decades prior to the eventual invasion. This is largely attributed to Iran holding the fourth largest oil reserves in the world, ahead of even Russia and Iraq. In 2002, President George W. Bush described Iran as being part of an "Axis of Evil". The phrase was concocted by Zionist Bush speechwriter David Frum in an attempt to drum up hatred of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea among the U.S populace. Iran took advantage of what was widely considered a blatantly imperialist comment, and formed the "Axis of Resistance" alliance with their allies in Hezbollah and Syria.

After multiple attempts by the Bush administration to provoke war with Iran, Republican war hawks such as John R. Bolton and Sarah Palin were infuriated at the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Obama ran on a promise of meeting with "America's adversaries" sans pre-conditions, and kept that promise. In 2015, Obama worked with other world powers to negotiate a deal which would deescalate tensions while also preventing Iranian nuclear proliferation.

As he did with Venezuela, Obama's successor Donald Trump took a much more bellicose approach towards Iran and the Middle East in general. After "tearing up" Obama's Iran Deal in 2017, Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian General and war hero Qasem Soleimani in an illegal drone strike. The assassination resulted in Iran retaliating with strikes on U.S bases in Iraq. Though the attacks resulted in no U.S casualties, several servicemen were left with brain damage. Anger sparked when the President erroneously bragged no one was harmed.

2021 handed a massive gift to the American pro-war lobby with the election of right-wing hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency. Having previously served two terms from 2005-2013, Ahmadinejad had been a major thorn in the side of both Bush and Obama, though much more so with Bush. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) was quoted as saying Ahmadinejad provided the perfect "boogeyman" with which the U.S could justify an offensive war with Iran.

Elected in 2024, U.S President Howard Schultz brought the U.S and Iran's enemies such as Israel and Iran closer than ever. Immediately after his administration toppled Venezuela, Schultz launched a campaign to persuade the global community that Iran was a threat and close to becoming a nuclear power. The campaign was largely conducted by "information integrity" company Yonder, the same company responsible for the Third Red Scare of the 2010s-2020s.

Genesis of the Quagmire
In January 2027, after a solid year of anti-Iran U.S propaganda, U.S Secretary of State Darren Woods spoke before a Congressional hearing. During the conference, Woods provided supposed evidence Iran was in the process of constructed a nuclear weapon, including aerial photos of facilities and even the testimony of U.S spies. Woods subsequently recommended immediate U.S military action against Iran, remarking that inaction would "see a mushroom cloud hanging over Tel Aviv." Despite Woods' impassioned message, the bulk of NATO refused to get involved, with even some western allies questioning the authenticity of the evidence. Nevertheless, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Guatemala all pledged their support to whichever course of action the U.S chose.

Later in January, Congress voted after Schultz requested their approval for armed force against Iran. Unlike the vote to invade Venezuela, much more of Congress was opposed. The House voted in favor of the Resolution 300-237. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rand Paul (R-KY), two ideological rivals among the handful of votes against Venezuela, filibustered for 48 hours straight prior to the Senate's vote, smashing Strom Thurmond's 1957 filibuster against civil rights. After the filibuster's conclusion, the Senate voted 72-30 yea.

With Congress now behind him, President Schultz ignored U.N and NATO calls for a diplomatic solution to the issue of Iran, and ordered the invasion of Iran. Radical Ahmadinejad, desperately seeking to avoid an attack on his country, offered to allow neutral IAEA inspectors to prove the regime had not worked on the production of nuclear weapons in years, and to surrender any chemical weapons. Ahmadinejad's offer was rejected under no uncertain terms by Schultz, and was widely ignored by mainstream media. Seeing no other option, Tehran then reached out to the Eurasian Union and their Shia allies in the Axis of Resistance. Syria, Hezbollah, and other Shia militant groups as expected, quickly committed their forces to the defense of Persia. What was not anticipated, and served as a massive geopolitical upset, was Eurasian President Vladimir Putin's willingness to enter the impending conflict on behalf of the Iranians. The course of the past decade had seen Eurasian relations with the NATO powers reach their absolute breaking point, largely due to western media's role in the Third Red Scare. Moscow's involvement in a proxy war against the U.S was the final insult in a series of global posturing between the two superpowers. In response to Iran's allies, the Schultz regime moved to embargo not only Syria, but also the EAU, paving the way for future economic anxiety in the U.S.