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The Iranian people are descendants of an ancient civilisation, culture, tradition and Twelver Shi’ belief ingrained since the Safavid dynasty. These engender pride and, therefore, nationalism in today’s Iran. A study of the country’s recent history reveals the causes, patterns, and nature of resilience we are seeing today.

Iran’s modern story with the West begins in oil wells and ends at a chokepoint. For roughly the first half of the 20th century, Iran mattered above all as Britain’s privileged fuel reserve; by the second half, its strategic importance broadened to include the Strait of Hormuz itself, first with Iran cast as a security provider and later as the main risk to that sea‑lane. The continuity is of geography and hydrocarbons, while the big change is that Iran has moved, in Western eyes, from an asset to a problem.

Iran’s history of concessions

Iran’s oil history reflected an older pattern – a weak monarchy, increasing foreign influence, and a confident Shi’i clergy and merchant class. 19th-century Qajar rulers financed a fragile state by ceding concessions, such as the 1872 Reuter agreement on forests and mining, the 1890 Tobacco monopoly rights to Imperial Tobacco, and the 1901 D’Arcy oil concession. These concessions followed a pattern – trading sovereignty for survival. Resentment grew, leading to clergy- and merchant-led protests and the 1905-11 Constitutional Revolution, which limited royal power and established an elected Parliament, the Majles.

The discovery of oil in 1908 and the formation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909 mattered more to London than to Tehran. In 1914, Winston Churchill shifted the Royal Navy from coal to oil, stating, “safety and........

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