The Iranian Trap

By Hussein Aboubakr Mansour and Sarah Stern
April 22, 2021

The history of the modern Middle East is that of devotional causes that went rogue. Once a holy cause is established, it becomes independent of its origins and grows a life of its own, often consuming the very original conditions for its existence. Such causes are always easy to ratchet up, but almost impossible to rachet down. The cause of post-colonial Arab national liberation, championed by Arab Nationalists, in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Algeria, ended up with military officers rolling on top of tanks in Arab capitals starting a continuous history of military coups and counter coups, and building some of the most brutal and monstrous political order in Arab history. For many Arab historians, injustice and crimes of European colonialism look like humanitarian interventions compared to Saddam’s Iraq, Ghaddafi’s Libya, or Assad’s Syria. 

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To many observers, it appears that the United States is anxious to “just make a deal” with Iran and that they do not understand Tehran’s history of negotiations or have much appreciation of the existential threat that Israel and our Gulf allies are under. That threat will only be enhanced if the talks begin to go awry.

Here to discuss this, and what the Israelis might feel they have to do in order to survive is Professor Efraim Inbar.