These reflections are evolving, and may shift without warning. The winds of changeāDivine or otherwiseādo not move by human forecast.
In the Western imagination, the idea that Iran could somehow be ādealt withā like Iraq is a dangerous illusionāone rooted not just in hubris, but in historical illiteracy.
Yes, Iraq was once the cradle of civilization. From Ur to Babylon, and later Baghdad under the Abbasids, its glories are undeniable. But geopolitically, Iraq is a lowland nationādeeply enmeshed within the Arab Mashreq, itself a corridor between Egypt and the Persianate world, susceptible to invasions, internal fragmentation, and competing powers.
Iran, by contrast, is a fortress civilization.