Not Trump, This Figure is the Culprit Behind the US Always Interfering in Other Countries

The Iran war adds to the long list of United States (US) involvement in other countries’ conflicts and political affairs. It turns out that the US’s such stance is not carried out by US President Donald Trump, but is rooted in the idea of one figure, namely the fifth US President, James Monroe.

In 1823, Monroe delivered a speech before Congress that later became known as the Monroe Doctrine. Citing the Britannica website, this doctrine rejected European interference in the American continent and stated that any new colonisation efforts would be a threat to US security. From there, Monroe instilled the important belief that the US has the moral and political right to regulate the environment outside its territory. If there is European intervention, the US can carry out counter-intervention.

At that time, this doctrine was considered empty bluster because the US was still relatively small and did not yet have adequate military or naval power. However, Monroe’s conviction became the foundation of US foreign policy in the subsequent decades.

In 1901, this principle was realised by President Theodore Roosevelt through the Roosevelt Corollary. Based on Monroe’s idea, the US declared the right to carry out military interventions in Latin American countries if those countries failed to maintain stability or potentially triggered European interference. Roosevelt emphasised that the US has a moral responsibility to act as the “international police” in that region.

After the Second World War (1939-1945), the justification for US intervention changed from colonial reasons to ideology, namely containing communism during the Cold War (1945-1991). It then gradually changed to issues of democracy, global stability, and human rights. The most significant change occurred after the 11 September 2001 (9/11) attacks, when terrorism became the main pillar of US foreign policy.

According to the research How The United States Justified Its War on Terrorism (2004), the US launched a “4-D” strategy—Defeat, Deny, Diminish, and Defend—which opened up wider room for military intervention, from Afghanistan to Iraq. Moreover, without a rival superpower, Washington seems to feel it has a moral responsibility to maintain global security, under the pretext of protecting human rights.

It is recorded, citing the research Introducing the Military Intervention Project (2024), that since 1776 the US has carried out around 400 interventions in various countries. Nearly a quarter occurred after 1991 or the post-Cold War era and the collapse of the Soviet Union.