Tomorrow, in the PM hours for America, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be laid to rest. This marks the end of the mourning period — and the beginning of a new chapter in the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
This publication operates at the intersection of military engagement, markets, and economics — a niche that remains underserved relative to its importance. Military action is what happens when diplomacy fails. It is the brass tacks of humanity: who can overpower whom. Most people are not comfortable operating at that raw baseline of reality. For reasons that are hard to articulate, your author is.
After the words have been said, the lies propagated, the narratives managed, and the virtues signaled — but nothing accomplished — what then? Western society often defaults to more talk, folding, or concession. Yet nothing of greatness or that is lasting has ever come from relenting. At nation-scale, that brings us to war.
War is hell. War is not good. Your author doesn’t hunt, doesn’t physically harm animals or people, values life, and sees little benefit in the egotistical ways many humans operate. But your author is also aware that America — like nearly every other country — was born in the crucible of fighting. Land, resources, ideology, safety: all secured by men willing to wield weapons for their children’s future and a vision they believed in. That history is undeniable, even if uncomfortable.
This is not a call to love war or glorify killing. Nor is it an apology for failed diplomacy. War simply exists because some differences are too stark and irreconcilable to fix any other way.
We have reached that point with Iran.
Largely unspoken, we are embarking on what amounts to a modern religious-ideological war. Iran is fighting, in part, for its future and its vision of the country. That resolve deserves respect. But it is also fighting to preserve its role as the vanguard of a Shia-led Islamic dominance. The CIA and others have documented this dynamic for decades. It is not new.
That lack of understanding in the West does not come from malice. America is a multi-cultural melting pot by design. I’m a white guy who grew up with an eclectic mix of mainstream and underground hip-hop (and still listens). You likely have your own stories of embracing diverse cultures. We celebrate differences as color and spice — humanity at its best when varied.
But not everyone sees the world this way.
America and much of the EU are fundamentally secular societies. I hold personal beliefs in a higher power, but organized religion feels too polluted for me. This leaves room for many valid paths to the divine. Iran’s leadership, however, operates from a different foundation.
Iran’s constitution explicitly outlines a vision of Shia Islamic expansion and global primacy. That is a statement of fact, not speculation. It is highly relevant because it reveals not just what Iran can do, but why they fight. The “why” determines commitment and depth of resolve. Mercenaries quit when the money stops. Ideologues do not.
This is where we stand. The collective West has embraced global cultural exchange — often a strength. But in doing so, institutions and elites have diluted a unifying national culture and, with it, the collective will to defend a shared vision. Iran has not.
Iran’s steadfast ideological commitment — particularly its religious dimension — generates a passion and resolve that the modern Western system struggles to match at scale. Accordingly, Iran is in a strong position to exploit that asymmetry.
I hope the terrible costs of war also force a reconfiguration in the West — one that rebuilds unity around something worth defending — and that surviving Iranians can eventually find common ground.
For now, we are entering a war of ideology.
May we get through it as peacefully as possible.
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