As a result, 241 US service personnel were killed, most of whom were Marines.

Iran has tried very hard to shirk responsibility for the attack, but evidence points to the involvement of Hezbollah. It is thought that the Lebanese Hezbollah carried out and planned the attack, but not by itself. The Iranian government was handing out orders.

This was the start of a new relationship between the United States and Iran.

At that time, the US hostages that were being held in Iran had been long released. Also, the US military mission to Lebanon was in place to help the country’s longsuffering government and to fight back against the various local sectarian blocs that were stirring up large amounts of violence in the country.

The memorial for all of those that died during the attack points out that the US Marines came to Beirut “in peace”. They were sent to Lebanon to help, not to target Iran’s interests.

Iran, on the other hand, did not come to Lebanon in peace. It came to the country to further its own interests and it saw the influence of the United States as going against its efforts to dominate the Middle East under Khomeinist-hegemony.

Since then, nothing drastic has changed. Iran’s goals remain the same and it still sees the US as standing in its way. Since the 1983 attack, Iran has continued to plan terrorist attacks against the US and it has targeted Americans in the region, especially in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iran has also tried to get rid of all US allies in the region because it knows that there is no way Iran can fully achieve its goal if the United States is there.

A military intervention with Iran is not the way to move forward. Iran avoids participating directly in conflicts and used its many militias and proxies to fight on its behalf. Since October 1983, Iran has continued to target the United States, and this is not going to change any time soon.

It was hoped that this would change when the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was signed, but it didn’t. The previous administrations in the US have tried the diplomacy and appeasement approach with no success, so it is pointless to keep these up.

The Trump administration has recognised that the Iranian regime is the single-most dangerous threat to peace and security in the Middle East and he has recognised that the Iranian people are the first victims.

Trump has hinted that there needs to be peaceful regime change in Iran, and this can be achieved by supporting the Iranian Resistance that has been working towards a free and democratic Iran for decades. The opposition presents a viable solution to the problem, but it just needs the support of the international community.