Israel-Iran conflict: Echoes of history haunt West Asia

With West Asia ablaze and alliances on edge, history is back not as memory but as missiles

- SRINATH SRIDHARAN

The ghosts of Persepolis are awake. And the ancient civilizational memory of the Persian Empire's conquest by Alexander, long buried under diplomacy, trade deals and strategic hedging, has erupted again into confrontation. Since last week, Israel and Iran have exchanged fresh attacks—a dreary birthday greeting for the Nobel Peace Prize aspirant President Donald Trump; now he is yet another US president presiding over yet another Middle East war.

While the Israeli strikes may not have been formally greenlit by Washington, Tehran clearly believes that the US gave its tacit support. The optics confirm the suspicion. Trump quickly praised Israel's actions as "excellent." The reality is that America, for all its denials, is enmeshed in this spiral.

The retaliatory calculus now unfolding across the region is not merely a security crisis for West Asia, but a geopolitical accelerant that's likely to impact every energy-dependent economy, every maritime route and every diplomatic playbook.

Israel's posture is clear. While Tel Aviv's official rationale focuses on preventing an Iranian nuclear threat, the ambition goes much deeper. Its public call to the Iranian people to reclaim their ancient identity from a repressive regime signals that this is more than a deterrence operation. It is a deeper push for regime change—dressed in the rhetoric of historical destiny and national security. But history warns us: such efforts are rarely clean or conclusive. Iran, despite economic pain and internal pressures, remains a deeply entrenched security state, ideologically hardened and regionally networked.