OPINION
Over the past few days, the media has been frantically covering developments in Iran. The product of this media frenzy has been honed into nuclear development, which is undoubtedly important. However, Iran has been on the center of the world stage ever since the days of Alexander the Great, long before the advent of nuclear technology. So why does Iran really matter? What’s so important about it that has led global superpowers to squabble over it for time immemorial.
There are a few reasons. In modern times, one of the major reasons has been oil. Iranian oil was discovered in 1908, and only a year later, the British had established the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). By the advent of the first World War, Britain had bought up the majority of shares in the APOC and had effectively nationalized the Iranian Oil Industry. In the early 1950s, the Iranian people democratically elected Mohammad Mossadegh, a socialist who tried to nationalize the oil industry.
The Americans and British, who benefitted from the oil, forced a coup, replacing the democratically-elected Mossadegh with a brutal, dictatorial regime. The reaction to that dictatorship brought us to the theocratic revolution that led to Iran’s current government.
But oil, which is almost cliche to mention in an article like this, is not the only reason that Iran matters. Iran sits at the crossroads between Asia and the rest of the Middle East. It has the potential to serve the Chinese and Russians as an avenue into the Arab World. But it could also serve as a Western bulwark, keeping Putin and Xi Jinping from dominating the Middle East.
Iran’s strategic location, in addition to its oil and nuclear capabilities, is the reason that Iran matters. It is the reason that Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative stretches towards Iran, the reason Russia has been trying so hard to impose a deal with the Iranians, and the reason that the United States has launched “Operation Porcupine” to meddle in Iran’s affairs. So, as you, the careful reader, explore the media landscape in an attempt to contextualize Iran, don’t forget that Iran’s global importance only begins at the nuclear arsenal.
