THAT faint flicker of hope we could see has now turned into real, solid hope.

Thanks to Pakistan’s efforts, a ceasefire has been secured for two weeks. However, a few things have become clear. One relates to Iran, the second to the United States—its leadership and its close ally Israel—and the third to Pakistan.

Within the span of a year, two devastating wars were imposed on Iran. Its leadership, including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei, was martyred and its military command was also not spared. It has been argued that all this happened due to Iran’s own weaknesses—that its ranks were not well organized, that there were traitors and spies within. Yet the question remains: how could such a large state fail to cope with such a situation? When a country’s political and military leadership is wiped out, there must be deeper causes behind such a failure.

All of Iran’s weaknesses and mistakes may be acknowledged, but there is another aspect to Iran as well. To understand it, one must go back into history—not very far, just a century and a half or two. These were times when armies fought face to face on open battlefields, and the decisive measure of victory was often the beheading of the opposing commander or king. The strategy of Donald........

© Pakistan Observer