Iran: The Misread Variable - China-US Focus

The United States and Iran signed a non-binding cease-fire memorandum on June 17, 2026, at Versailles, yet hostilities continued as Iran fired missiles at U.S. bases in Bahrain and Kuwait while the U.S. and Israel struck back. American policy toward Iran has relied on "maximum pressure" tactics since 1979—from asset freezes to sanctions to withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement—but this approach reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of Iranian society and history, according to analysts. Both Washington and Beijing have misread Iran as a consequential variable in Middle Eastern geopolitics, focusing narrowly on the Iranian government rather than engaging with a nation of 90 million people shaped by centuries of resistance to foreign pressure.