Basically the Ottoman Empire and Persia ruled the area for many years. Not many people lived there due to harsh conditions (mostly desert). The following is a very simplified account of what occurred over the subsequent decades.

The defeat of the Ottoman Empire after WW1 and the subsequent Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, between the French and British, led to some resentments.

When oil was discovered in vast quantities, interest suddenly picked up from the European powers and the US of course. Now they became serious.

Along the way the British partitioned Palestine into Arab and Jewish areas of administration. The way the British and to a lesser degree the French partitioned this vast area including Mesopotamia lead to interesting groupings of different tribes and religious sects. Various uprisings were put down by the European powers until independence was gained. What a mess! I belive they used a ruler on a map like the great European Powers created administrated areas in Africa. Gee, that worked out well.

Now comes the interesting part. Iran (Persia) declared that they were going to nationalize their oil industry to benefit more from their resources. The rest is history with the 1953 CIA overthrow of the democratically elected PM to save the foreign oil owned companies from nationalization. That lead to the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Then came the formation of Israel in 1948 which led to much conflict with Britain and the Arabs. Jerusalem is a Holy City to Arabs, Jews and Christians. So the fight was on to occupy it.

Iran is an old and proud civilization and resented the foreign intervention which leads us to today.

Most of us on the forum are old enough to remember the 1967 Israeli War to the present day.

What a complete fuck-up. Taking sides requires one to set a date and disregard for what went on before that time as irrelevant. Same as the US Media has told the US public that the Russia-Ukraine conflict started with the Russian SMO in Feb 2022.

Whatever happens it’s horrific for civilians on both sides. I’m not taking sides as the history is deep and complicated. Horrors have been unleashed on both sides over the years. No one likely thinks about how it all came to be. My head spins when I try to unravel it.