In a revealing CNN panel discussion last week, Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American who was detained during the 2009 Green Revolution in Iran, provided a chilling account of Iran's adversarial stance towards the United States. Tajbakhsh's comments come amid escalating military actions by American and Israeli forces against the Tehran regime.
Speaking on "CNN NewsNight" on Thursday, Tajbakhsh offered a glimpse into the Iranian government's mindset, which has long viewed its relationship with the U.S. as confrontational. His remarks shed new light on the decades-long tension between Iran and the West, suggesting that the current hostilities are part of a broader historical conflict.
"I don’t think it’s right to say that President Trump has started a war with Iran," Tajbakhsh stated during the broadcast. "I think President Trump wants to finish a war that Iran started in 1979, 47 years ago." He recalled a conversation from either 2003 or 2004 with a senior official at the Iranian foreign ministry who made it clear that the Iranian government considered itself at war with the United States.
"He said, 'We in this building,'" Tajbakhsh recounted, indicating that the official was referring to the foreign ministry and, by extension, the entire Iranian regime. "'We believe we are at war with the United States.'" The official described the nature of the conflict at the time as a "cold war," but unequivocally a war nonetheless.
The panel, which included former CNN Global Affairs Correspondent Elise Labott and Foreign Policy Editor-in-Chief Ravi Agrawal, reacted immediately to Tajbakhsh's testimony. Labott expressed her belief that a military confrontation between the U.S. and Iran was inevitable, while also conveying her discomfort with the current situation and messaging.
The discussion followed the initiation of Operation Epic Fury, announced by President Donald Trump on Truth Social. The operation involves coordinated strikes by the U.S. military and the Israeli Defense Forces against Iran, resulting in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Trump administration has maintained a confrontational approach towards Iran, with Operation Epic Fury intensifying the campaign. The Center for Strategic and International Studies reported that Trump outlined four objectives for the operation: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, destroying its missile arsenal and production sites, degrading its proxy networks, and annihilating its navy.
On January 11, aboard Air Force One, Trump warned the Iranian regime that it was beginning to cross a "red line" with its attacks on protesters. A human rights group confirmed the death of nearly 6,900 protesters at the hands of the Iranian regime, according to a BBC report.
