Echoes of Karbala, Iran beyond the shadows of war

Finally, the cat is out of the bag. With United States President Donald Trump first announcing a 20% surcharge for facilitating the passage of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and now shifting the focus to investments in America (“Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States”), the “art of the deal” has been laid bare. The war with Iran was never about democracy, human rights, or non-proliferation; those are merely pretexts to control Iran’s vast energy reserves and the strategic choke points of global trade. But behind the sterile headlines of geopolitics lies a human reality. I wish to share something far more personal: my experience of stepping into Iran at one of the most extraordinary, painful moments in its modern history.