Iran: The Middle East’s Joker
... that, unlike its Arab opponents or even Israel, Iran is not dependent on external security providers—it is quite self-sufficient, as befits a true joker. The current situation in the region may well prove to be a historical fork in the road for both Iran and the Middle East as a whole. What will ultimately prevail: the usual fears and suspicions of many Arab states about Tehran’s intentions and actions, or the new sense of unity in the Islamic world that has been awakened by the events in Gaza? In the former case, the old lines of confrontation between Arabs and Persians, Sunnis and Shiites, secular and theocratic regimes will be splitting the region again and again. US attempts to ...