Smarts, stupidity — or piety?

By Lev Tsitrin

Much punditry had been spent on explaining the paradox of Iranian reaction to its MOU with the US. After all, in it ayatollahs got everything they dreamed of: Israel was put into a diplomatic straightjacket that all but stopped its fight against Hezbullah; Iran could openly ship and sell its oil; the country was declared open to future investors; talks on nuclear issues were pushed into the future — all in exchange for Iran keeping Hormuz open. And yet, in just a few days of signing it, Iran violated the deal by firing on the transiting ships.

The pundits pounced on the opportunity to enlighten the hoi polloi. Some claimed that the leadership was fractured, the decision-makers hiding in their separate holes for fear of assassination, so “the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing.” Some argued that the deal in fact could be construed as allowing Iran to control Hormuz, Tehran out-negotiating Washington in this particular, too. In the view of the others, the Iranians — being so very smart — calculated that Trump so desperately needed the price of oil to go down before the midterms the he would accept whatever Iran demanded in return — even its de-facto control of Hormuz — and he would not dare “rock the boat” even when Iran rocketed boats (hope you noticed the pun!)

In a totally different camp were those who opined that Iranian smartness was a myth, and that in fact the current rulers of Iran are pretty dumb to have done anything that incredibly stupid.

Now, let me add my two cents. I would argue that Iranians were just being pious.

Just think of it for a second. What is the key implication of Trump’s demand that Iran abides by the terms of the deal it struck with the US? Obviously, it means that both parties are equals, that both Iran and the US have mutually equal obligations to each other.

And here is the problem: Iran and the US are not equals — in any way, shape, or form. Iran is an incarnation of godliness, piety and goodness while US is the very manifestation of the impious infidel. Hence, it should be put in its place — it should be humiliated so as not to dare consider itself the equal of the Islamic Republic, that flagship (a pun again!) of piety.

Put simply, what Trump demands goes against the natural, cosmic order of things — the pious and the infidels are not, and cannot, be on par. They are not equals!

Wikipedia thusly explains what I think is behind Iranian decision-making logic, “According to historian Marshall Hodgson, from very early times Muslim rulers would very often humiliate and punish dhimmis (usually Christians or Jews that refused to convert to Islam). It was official policy that dhimmis should “feel inferior and to know ‘their place.””

That, I think, is all there is to it: Trump — a mere dhimmi at best — got a little too uppity, impiously imagining himself to be Mojtaba’s equal — and needs to be put a few pegs down.

Unless — and that thought just occurred to me — it is the linguistics. Perhaps, in Farsi words “the safe passage” (as in Iran “using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels”) and “sinking” are signified by the exact same word, so Iranians read their obligations under the MOU as “using its best efforts for the sinking of commercial vessels”.”

But barring that I think “it’s the piety, stupid!”

Lev Tsitrin is the author of “The Pitfall Of Truth: Holy War, Its Rationale And Folly
Illustration from the Times of India