Any comparison of the US-Iran conflict to the Russia-Ukraine war is ignorant

Opinion Any comparison of the US-Iran conflict to the Russia-Ukraine war is ignorant by Michael Rubin March 2, 2026 8:13 PM 7 min read Smoke rises from the area after it was targeted in attacks as a series of explosions are heard in Tehran, Iran, on March 1, 2026. (Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images) Opinion Michael Rubin Senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute As President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to begin their assault on Iran, David Hearst, the editor-in-chief of the Middle East Eye, a Qatari-funded, Al Jazeera offshoot, declared, "There is a chilling but uncanny resemblance in the way Donald Trump is preparing to attack Iran, and the way Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine." It is an ignorant statement infused with moral confusion. On July 12, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin published "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" in a Kremlin journal. It was a masterclass in misinformation that would make Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels proud. He argued the name Ukraine referred only to Russia's periphery, and Ukrainian simply meant border guard. The idea that Ukraine's language, culture, and church were legitimate, he suggested, was the manifestation of external propaganda compounded by a failure of his predecessors to rebut the falsehoods. Become a member – go ad‑free In follow-up speeches shortly after and on the first day of his invasion of Ukraine , Putin built on his historical interpretation to justify his land grab. What Putin envisioned was a war of eradication and annexation. He sought to erase Ukraine and steal its resources. Trump's military action is different. While the Ukrainian people chose Volodymyr Zelensky in a free and fair election, no Iranian was allowed to vote for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Many Iranians disliked the regime. The country had witnessed repeated waves of protest, one of which erupted just a month before U.S. and Israeli forces targeted senior officials of the Iranian regime. Seven week...