Al-Monitor Discovers Iran's 'Strategic Pivot' After Two Decades of US Occupation
Al-Monitor breathlessly reports that the Quds Force's chief made a 'low-profile Baghdad visit,' highlighting 'Iran's strategic pivot.' This 'pivot' (or rather, consistent policy response) seems less like a sudden turn and more like Iran consolidating influence in a neighbor effectively destabilized and handed over by the 2003 US invasion. The US spent trillions and thousands of lives supposedly
bringing democracy to Iraq, only to leave a vacuum now, apparently shocking to some, being filled by Iraq's powerful eastern neighbor. Instead of a 'strategic pivot,' this is merely the inevitable geopolitical gravity of a region where the US has consistently alienated local populations and propped up destabilizing forces. It's almost as if removing Saddam Hussein and creating a protracted
insurgency didn't pave the way for a pro-Western utopia. How many more 'pivots' will it take for mainstream media to acknowledge consistent Iranian regional agency rather than perpetual 'malign influence' narratives?