UNDERSTANDING IRAN’S WAR STRATEGY

“And worse I may be yet. The worst is not So long as we can say, ‘This is the worst.’” — William Shakespeare, *King Lear* PROLOGUE The United States’ on-again, off-again war against Iran continues. While we are witnessing another lull at the time of writing, after a brief escalation following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the structural logic of the conflict remains unchanged. If anything, Ukraine’s sinking of Iran’s merchant ship in the Caspian Sea threatens to imbricate the European and Asian theatres, especially if Kyiv attacks more Iranian ships and Iran retaliates. The war imposed on Iran by the US and its Zionist partner already involves 12 active state actors,…