The escalating confrontation between Iran on one side and the United States and Israel on the other is often framed in familiar strategic language: deterrence, nuclear threats and regional security. Israel argues that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear capability is an existential necessity, while Washington portrays its involvement as part of a broader effort to stabilise the Middle East and contain a revisionist power. Yet these explanations capture only the immediate logic of the conflict. Beneath the battlefield calculations lies a deeper historical problem: the assumption that Iran can be strategically weakened or neutralised through external pressure. If history offers any serious guidance, this assumption may be fundamentally flawed. The latest escalation—marked by Israeli and American strikes on Iranian military […]
This article was sourced from Middle East Monitor.
Read Full Article on Middle East Monitor →![A view of a banner featuring Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran continue on March 14, 2026. [Fatemeh Bahrami - Anadolu Agency]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AA-20260314-40822389-40822379-BANNER_OF_IRANS_NEW_SUPREME_LEADER_MOJTABA_KHAMENEI_IN_TEHRAN-1-1.jpg)
