{"id":940533,"date":"2026-05-06T01:50:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940533\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T01:50:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:50:23","slug":"iran-has-a-long-history-of-standing-firm-against-outside-aggressors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940533\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran has a long history of standing firm against outside aggressors"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article by Emeritus Professor Amin Saikal, from The University of Western Australia’s School of Social Sciences, and Professor Amitav Acharya, from American University, was originally published in The Conversation on 6 May 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump\u2019s threats against Iran since the war began have targeted not just the country\u2019s military capabilities, but its entire civilisation.<\/p>\n

In recent days, he has threatened that Iran would be \u201cblown off the face of the earth\u201d if it attacks US ships trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s previously pledged to send Iran back to the \u201cStone Age\u201d, and warned that \u201ca whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again\u201d.<\/p>\n

These statements show not only extreme belligerence, but Trump\u2019s complete lack of understanding of Iran\u2019s long, resilient culture and civilisation and the fortitude of its people.<\/p>\n

Iran has been subjected to much internal strife and foreign power intervention, but it has never been colonised or subjugated. At every difficult moment in their history, Iranians have fought to preserve what is theirs.<\/p>\n

Persian influence in ancient Greece and Rome<\/p>\n

Since the Greco-Persian Wars (499 BCE), Persia has served as the West\u2019s ultimate \u201cother\u201d: a dark and despotic oriental villain menacing an enlightened West.<\/p>\n

This is despite Persia\u2019s return of exiled Jews in Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple in 538 BCE, and its tolerance of diversity in the world\u2019s first truly multicultural empire.<\/p>\n

The victories of a coalition of Greek city-states over the Achaemenid Persian imperial forces at Salamis (480 BCE) and Marathon (490 BCE) are considered pivotal moments in the history of Western civilisation.<\/p>\n

Yet this was just a minor setback for Persia. In fact, Persia continued to play a decisive role in Greek affairs. Persian gold helped Sparta defeat Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431\u2013404 BCE), and Persia was often the most important mediator in Greek affairs.<\/p>\n

The Parthian and Sasanian Empires that followed the Achaemenids in Persia then challenged the Romans.<\/p>\n

In 260 CE, Sasanian Emperor Shapur I captured Roman Emperor Valerian in battle \u2013 an unprecedented act. A century later, Shapur II\u2019s army fought off an attempted invasion by Emperor Julian, killing him in the process.<\/p>\n

Western triumphal narratives tend to forget that Persia repeatedly humbled the greatest Western empire in ancient times.<\/p>\n

Surviving invasions from the east and west<\/p>\n

Alexander the Great conquered Persia militarily. However, he embraced Persian culture, which outlasted Greek influence in the region.<\/p>\n

The advent of Islam did not extinguish Persia\u2019s civilisation or resilience, either. Islamic leaders preserved Persian language and culture, kept pre-Islamic festivals such as Nowruz (the 3,000-year-old Persian New Year), and adapted Zoroastrian concepts into Shiite Islam\u2019s emphasis on resistance to tyranny.<\/p>\n

The Mongols\u2019 multiple invasions (between 1219 and 1258) devastated Iran, yet core elements of Persian civilisation survived. Persian power flourished again, especially under the Safavid dynasty (1501\u20131736).<\/p>\n

During the Qajar dynasty (1789\u20131925), Persia was squeezed by the Anglo-Russian rivalry of Great Game era, but was not subdued.<\/p>\n

During the second world war, Iran was occupied by the British in the oil-rich south and the Soviets in the north. However, both powers pledged, along with the United States, to respect Iran\u2019s sovereignty and withdraw at the end of the war.<\/p>\n

A turbulent 20th century<\/p>\n

This episode rejuvenated Iranian nationalism and prompted a movement to free Iran from traditional major power rivalries and gain control over its own resources. This especially pertained to oil, since the British had controlled Iran\u2019s oil reserves through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) from the early 19th century.<\/p>\n

In 1951, a long-time nationalist-reformist, Mohammad Mossadegh, was elected prime minister and promptly nationalised the AIOC, sparking a major dispute with London.<\/p>\n

Mossadegh also sought to limit the power of Iran\u2019s monarchy in favour of democratic reforms, causing a conflict with the young, pro-Western Mohammad Reza Shah, who was still the country\u2019s reigning monarch.<\/p>\n

The shah was forced into exile in 1953, only to be returned to the throne days later when Mossadegh was overthrown in a covert operation by the US Central Intelligence Agency, with MI6\u2019s help. (Fifty years later, US President Barack Obama acknowledged the CIA\u2019s role in the coup.)<\/p>\n

The US backed the shah as a pillar of American hegemony in the Middle East. In return, US oil companies received a 40% share of Iran\u2019s oil industry.<\/p>\n

Yet the shah was able to transform his dependent relationship with the US into one of interdependence. Iran became a pivotal player in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and in the region.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the 1973\u201374 energy crisis, then-US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned the United States would react with force if it was \u201cstrangled\u201d by a cut in oil deliveries \u2013 a veiled message to the shah.<\/p>\n

The Iranian revolution of 1978\u201379 then toppled the shah and enabled his chief religious and political opponent, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to assume power. Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic Republic with an anti-US and anti-Israel posture.<\/p>\n

He essentially based his rule in the historic pride Iranians held as a people in charge of their destiny.<\/p>\n

Khomeini and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sought to entrench Shia political Islamism as the ideological guide and legitimate foundation of the state. But they sought to blend this with the Iranians\u2019 sense of civilisational, cultural and nationalist identity, especially in the face of outside aggression.<\/p>\n

\u2018Iran is my land\u2019<\/p>\n

The celebrated Persian-speaking poet Abul-Qasim Ferdowsi (940\u20131020 CE) once said:<\/p>\n

Iran is my land, and the whole world is under my feet. The people of this land are the possessors of virtue, art and bravery. They have no fear of roaring lions.<\/p>\n

As Iran\u2019s standoff with the US continues, it appears the regime is prepared for the long haul against yet another military foe.<\/p>\n

But there is no military solution to the conflict. Diplomacy within the framework of mutual respect and trust is the best way forward. Otherwise, the region and the world may remain captive to an energy and economic crisis that could have been resolved through negotiations, rather than war.<\/p>\n

As for the future of the Islamic government, that needs to be determined by the Iranian people.<\/p>\n

\"The
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