US-Iran Conflict: A Decades-Long 'Shadow War'

Tehran: The smell of gunpowder that pervades West Asia today is the result of years of'shadow war '. For the US, the conflict began in 1979, when the US embassy in Tehran was attacked and staff taken hostage. But for the Iranian people, the poison is even older. Tehran has never forgotten decades of US support for the Shah of Iran and subsequent assistance to Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War. The bloody history is mainly divided into three parts: Phase I (1980): Known as the "Tanker War," during which the US Navy established a strong presence in the Gulf and attacked Iranian ships. Phase II (2003): Iran surrounded by US troops on all sides after the US invasion of Iraq. In response, Iran launched a'proxy war'against the US by raising several military organizations. Phase III (IDA4): Trump signed the nuclear deal in January 2026, and the actual killing of Qassem Soleimani began in January 2026.