History, Religion, Politics, Culture, and Travels in the Islamic World
US has surged men and material to the Mideast, but Trump is hesitating on escalating. There have been no attacks on Iran for two days. However, his boss is visiting the White House. Once Netanyahu disciplines his errant employee, the war will resume with great intensity. Meanwhile, Iranian media published the list of US losses of equipment over the past 15-day period.
Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi’s interview with “Iran Talks.” In a 90-minute discussion, he covers a range of topics: Twelve-Day War, duplicitous negotiations with the US, treacherous Arab neighbors, the Ramazan War, and the MOU. In Persian with English subtitles. A summary by DropSite News is included.
The war on Iran picked up where it left off on 8 April, with the Iranians denuding the region of US bases, forcing the US to relocate assets to Israel and Europe. The Iranian campaign has been brilliant and will be studied in military colleges.
On 17 June 2026, Trump signed the US-Iran MOU at Versailles, France, saying, “this was not easy.” The symbolism of signing an “unconditional surrender” at Versailles was evidently lost on the illiterates at the White House. Israelis, to complete the World War I parallel, supplied the anti-Versailles slogan of Nazism by describing the agreement as a “stab in the back.”
Since the Iran War has become a Sitzkrieg, I am returning to writing about what I love: Iranian history and culture. What were Iranians doing in the “Stone Age”? Inventing fun stuff. The yakhchal (“ice pit”) is from ca. 500 BC. It is a pre-modern fridge.
The bombing of the Rafiei-Nia Synagogue in Tehran prompted this brief note, which includes a link to an excellent documentary about Iranian Jews. I will write later about the pending settlement of the Iran War. I will only say that it’s a clear strategic victory for Iran—and resounding defeat for Iran haters!
Trump and Hegseth threatened to send Iran back to the “Stone Age.” However, in the Stone Age (to 4,500 BC), Iranians had thriving civilization; and by the Bronze Age (3,300—1,200 BC), had empires that predated Ancient Greece by 2,000 years and Rome by 2,500 years. The the world has discovered that the Iranians are civilized while savages run the United States.
Arab states are being pummeled by Iran and US is not helping them. Gulf Arabs have realized that the Washington Mafia took their “protection money” but never intended to protect them. Breach of contract. Even the Genovese crime family that ran my NYC neighborhood met their obligations. Arab states will fall under Iran’s sway.
US and Israel view assassinations as a straight line to “victory.” But killing leaders and generals will not collapse nation-states with sound political-military structures. The assumption that the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) rests on a “cult of personality”—Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei—is facile. Assassinations have unintended consequences.
The “collective west” pontificates about democracy, freedom, civil rights, and civil liberties in Iran, but Iran’s experiences (ca. 1860s to 1979) with foreign powers are of political domination and resource extraction. Organic democratic reforms in Iran were quashed by the west.
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