When the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” I was reminded of Japan before the end of the Pacific War.

However, what comes to mind is not August 1945, when Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration, but rather the previous year, November 1944, when the full-scale B-29 air raids on Tokyo began. If the maxim “History doesn't repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes” holds true, I believe Iran will not “surrender” easily to the Trump administration anytime soon.

There are a few parallels between present-day Iran and Tokyo in 1944 but also some important dissimilarities. Here are four that easily come to mind.

© The Japan Times