[pazimzadeh]

> Iran has a long history of aggression, including sponsoring terrorist groups

The US has a longer history of aggression and sponsoring terrorist groups:

Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-pro...

  During the Iran–Iraq War, which began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980,[1] the United States adopted a policy of providing support to Iraq in the form of several billion dollars' worth of economic aid, dual-use technology, intelligence sharing (e.g., IMINT), and special operations training.[2] This U.S. support, along with support from most of the Arab world, proved vital in helping Iraq sustain military operations against Iran.[3] The documented sale of dual-use technology, with one notable example being Iraq's acquisition of 45 Bell helicopters in 1985,[4][5] was effectively a workaround for a ban on direct arms transfers; U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East dictated that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism because of the Iraqi government's historical ties with groups like the Palestinian Liberation Front and the Abu Nidal Organization, among others.[6] However, this designation was removed in 1982 to facilitate broader support for the Iraqis as the conflict dragged on in Iran's favour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq...

[Sabinus]

The USA sending support to a state during a war specifically for that war is not supporting terrorism, even if the recipient has supported terrorism in the past.

>This U.S. support, along with support from most of the Arab world, proved vital in helping Iraq sustain military operations against Iran.

[pazimzadeh]

How do you ensure they only use it on that war?

Is using chemical weapons on civilian targets in cities and villages not terrorism?

Anyway, there are earlier and more direct instances of the US sponsoring terrorists groups.

[Sabinus]

>How do you ensure they only use it on that war?

Intelligence agencies. But you can't ensure it.

>Is using chemical weapons on civilian targets in cities and villages not terrorism?

I'm not an expert on the Iran-Iraq war and I'm a bit tired for research ATM but I'm going to assume the USA did not provide it's help for chemical weapons use, and that there was plenty of conventional conflict going on to provide assistance for.

>Anyway, there are earlier and more direct instances of the US sponsoring terrorists groups.

Sure, but we should point to when that happened. Not when the USA supported a government to do something at the same time as they did something bad.

[pazimzadeh]

> I'm a bit tired for research ATM but I'm going to assume

Hilarious but sad that this is the state of HN.

After you get some rest consider reading the article. Maybe you can have it read to you like a audiobook, might be easier? Some of the original CIA documents are at the bottom.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-pro...

https://archive.is/XWevr

I pulled some key quotes for you:

  In 1988, during the waning days of Iraq’s war with Iran, the United States learned through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that Hussein’s military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a lethal nerve agent.

  The Reagan administration decided that it was better to let the attacks continue if they might turn the tide of the war. And even if they were discovered, the CIA wagered that international outrage and condemnation would be muted

  senior U.S. officials were being regularly informed about the scale of the nerve gas attacks

  declassified CIA documents show that Casey and other top officials were repeatedly informed about Iraq’s chemical attacks and its plans for launching more

  The use of chemical weapons in war is banned under the Geneva Protocol of 1925, which states that parties “will exert every effort to induce other States to accede to the” agreement. Iraq never ratified the protocol; the United States did in 1975.

  By 1988, U.S. intelligence was flowing freely to Hussein’s military. That March, Iraq launched a nerve gas attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja in northern Iraq