As this administration continues to propagandize daily against the Iranian government, it is again clear that President Trump, national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have one agenda: to overthrow the current regime and put someone of our choosing in its place.

Just look at the latest so-called incident. Two tankers have had holes blown in them by some explosive device. How was it placed there, and who placed it? It is equally possible that it was the work of the Saudis. They would like to draw us into a confrontation with Iran.

You remember the Saudis. Fifteen of the 19 attackers on 9/11 were Saudi. According to an independent U.N. human rights expert, the same Saudis sent a 15-man team with a bone saw and a surgeon to Turkey to kill and dismember a columnist for The Washington Post. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have a lot invested in Saudi Arabia.

And, of course, the Trump administration would lie. They do it all the time. That behavior is not limited to the current administration. Remember Saddam Hussein’s supposed “weapons of mass destruction“? Or how about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which never happened?

John Bolton has been screaming at Iran for ages, demanding regime change. We and the Brits carried out that change in the 1950s, assassinating the popular prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddegh, and installing the shah on his peacock throne. All for the control of the oil.

It is past time to put a short leash on the dogs of war.

I am no fan of any theocracy, but the Persians are a brilliant culture, reacting as most will do when under attack. Remember, Iran hasn’t invaded another country in over 200 years. What they do have is a long memory.

Stephen R. Aucoin

Kennebunk