The political relations between ancient Iran – what was the legendary Persia – and its neighbors almost always resulted in large-scale battles at the levels of each moment. As happened with the first empire of Cyrus and Darius, that of the satrapies, which was destroyed by the great conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great, three centuries before Christ.
Now we find ourselves, in that same space, with an illegal (they should all be) undeclared war, which is surely going to get more and more complicated. And whose genesis may have its lethal key in Thucydides’ Trap theory. Which currently also works, on a larger scale, but more peacefully, in the great tension between China and the US. A struggle between the two superpowers for which of them will hold world hegemony tomorrow.
In Thucydides’ Trap of the Peloponnesian Wars, the city/state platform of ancient Sparta from 2,400 years ago was willing to punish an Athens that had grown too militarily.
Now it happens that the Iran of the Ayatollahs (the new Athens) is in the process of obtaining the atomic bomb, thus changing a relationship of forces that until now was very favorable for Israel/Sparta, which has had the atomic bomb for decades.
We are not going to go into it today, because there is no more space in this column, to foresee how much can arise from the bloody confrontation exposed. Taking into account that in addition to their own military capabilities, bellicose help from their respective partners will surely arrive.
Of the Hellenistic similes, we should also remember Pandora’s box. And we will end with another historical phrase, this time in Latin: alea jacta est.