Various commenters opine this or that, saying we will someday, somehow resolve our conflicts with the Iranians.  Sanctions will make then a "normal nation," or killing so-and-so will pacify them, or sinking their navy will defang them, or bombing their oil refineries will bankrupt them. Baloney. The British never really conquered them but did have enough power over a backward 19th-century Persia to keep them from causing too much trouble in the region.  The exploitation of Persian oil by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (founded 1908) helped to restore some modicum of influence to the country.  It was Persian (and Iraqi) oil that fueled Churchill's dreadnoughts in WWI.  The Brits suffered nationalization of the oil after WWII and were relieved by the 1953 CIA effort to topple the socialist prime minister responsible.  As a marker, one could use 1953 as a handy start date for Persian resurgence against the West...(Read Full Post)