Memory and insecurity underlie the war with Iran

The article examines how historical memory and perceived insecurity shape Iran's adversarial relationship with the United States, drawing a parallel to Iran's isolation during its 1980s war with Iraq. The piece suggests that Iran's current posture — including its nuclear ambitions and regional proxy activities — reflects decades-long anxieties about vulnerability and encirclement by hostile powers. Understanding Iran's strategic decisions requires recognizing how leaders in Tehran view their nation's precarious geopolitical position through the lens of past conflicts. This framing is crucial context for interpreting contemporary U.S.-Iran tensions, which cannot be fully understood without accounting for how Iranians internalize their historical experience of isolation and military threat.