Reply #4: Since 6000 BC [View All]

lol just kidding. Though empires for thousands of years have spread out from that region. Same could be said for Iran or 100 other places.

I don't think Iran has ever been expansionistic. Iraq, or more accurately Saddam, started the Iran Iraq war when nobody else on either side really wanted it. If anything Iran is probably a little protective of the Shia in Iraq now. They knew they were repressed before by Saddam, and now they want to help.

Sort of like if northern Mexico from Mexico City on up was the same religion as us, while the lower half was...well something else, with a smaller population who had repressed them in the north. We wouldn't have aims on conquering Mexico, or even just the northern half of it. Many of the holiest sites of our religion are there in Northern Mexico, and we share a common religion with those people. We'd want to help them, provide aid, etc, but not invade.

Iran is the same way. They don't see that as their country, after all they're mostly Shia Arabs in Iraq as opposed to Shia Persians and a dozen other ethnic groups who aren't arabs.

Of course Iran is a fucked up place for the most part and the leadership is very disconnected from reality and even their own people. So who knows. Maybe they got a crazy idea in their heads, but they've never done anythign remotely expansionistic.