Since the 1920s, Iran has lived through two defining political moments that have reflected two distinct civilisational identities. The first Iranian moment was the reign of the Pahlavi monarchy, which began in 1925 with Reza Khan Pahlavi, an army officer, being instated to the throne and ended in 1979 with the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution. Tehran recognised Israel after it was created in 1948, supplied oil to Western markets, and served as Washington’s chosen guardian of the Gulf. It became only the second Shia state since the Safavid Empire (1501-1736), which had itself made Twelver Shiism Iran’s defining identity. More than 3,600 different sanctions have been imposed on the republic — a cumulative siege that devastated the lives of ordinary Iranians. Three major armed conflicts scarred its existence: the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–1988, in which hundreds of thousands died; the 12-day war involving Israel and the United States in June 2025; and the ongoing conflict beginning on February 28.