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Geographically speaking, over 80% of Iran’s land is classified as arid or semi-arid, and it is likely to face over 5°C of warming by the end of the century: the

Geographically speaking, over 80% of Iran’s land is classified as arid or semi-arid, and it is likely to face over 5°C of warming by the end of the century: the impacts of climate change will likely be more severe in Iran than the regional average. The region suffers from extreme weather including both droughts and flooding, seismic activity in the form tectonic uplift, particularly near the Makran coast, and constant attacks: economic attack by sanction, cyber attack on energy infrastructure, and lately even kinetic attack from neighbors. The fact that the regime hasn’t collapsed is a testament to Persian, Iranian and Islamic culture, and I hope its people find ways to prosper when the deck is so stacked against them.

xenospn 11mo ago
Almost everything you’ve described, except for natural disasters, is an own goal. There’s literally no need for the country to be poor and on the brink of collapse. They are doing it to themselves.
- shadyKeystrokes 11mo ago
  On the fruits of their hands labor you shall know them..
- maest 11mo ago
  There may have been some external meddling from a certain international superpower.
rayiner 11mo ago
Iran isn’t a breadbasket exactly, but it has more arable land per person than Germany, Italy, the UK, or Ireland. And vastly more than Japan. It’s relatively temperate now—future warming doesn’t explain its current situation. On top of all that, it has oil! In 1980, just after the revolution, Iran had a PPP GDP per capita above Taiwan, China, and South Korea. And only modestly behind Poland. Today those countries are far ahead. Same for Thailand, Malaysia, and Turkey. The economic sanctions are a symptom not the cause.
- alephnerd 11mo ago
  Not just PPP. It's nominal GDP per capita was above Taiwan, Turkiye, South Korea, and all of Eastern Europe. If the stuff that happened to Iran in our timeline didn't happened in the 1980s-2000s, it probably could have seen an economic boom comparable to what SK and Taiwan saw in the 1990s - especially becuase the leadership in 1980s South Korea and Taiwan were equally as authoritarian as that in Iran back then. Other similar losers from that era were the DRC, Syria (before the civil war it was roughly on par with Turkiye), the Ivory Coast (it was France's premier financial hub in Franafrique before the civil war), and Pakistan (it's GDP per capita was significantly above China's until the 1990s, and Pakistani advisors helped industrialize significant portions of the Gulf).
  - rayiner 11mo ago
    All good points.
cm2012 11mo ago
"economic attack by sanction, cyber attack on energy infrastructure, and lately even kinetic attack from neighbors." They could just stop being at war with Israel any time, it is a pointless choice.
- arresin 11mo ago
  [flagged]
  - dpe82 11mo ago
    Germans committing genocide was not why the US entered the war, though.
  - yes_really 11mo ago
    This is a disgusting comment. There exists no parallel here. The nazis engaged in a systematic, colossal campaign to exterminate as many Jewish people as possible. You are saying that this is somehow equivalent to Israel simply existing. Iran became hostile to Israel and to the US in 1979 with the Islamic Revolution. Also, the US entered WWII because of Pearl Harbor, and engaged in a normal war against the Axis. Iran engages in terrorism by financing and arming terrorist groups that perform terrorist attacks on civilians. The US action in WWII defeated the nazis. The actions of the Iranian dictatorship caused deaths and terrors targeted at civilians in other countries and destroyed the lives of its own people in Iran.
    - isr 11mo ago
      [flagged]
      - yes_really 11mo ago
        [flagged]
        computerthings 11mo ago
FridayoLeary 11mo ago
I completely agree with you. We who wish well on Iranians can only hope the situation is speedily rectified and the regime will finally fall, ending the oppression, want, war and poverty they have inflicted on so many millions of people both within and without their borders. In the meantime i hope it rains.

xenospn 11mo ago

Almost everything you’ve described, except for natural disasters, is an own goal. There’s literally no need for the country to be poor and on the brink of collapse. They are doing it to themselves.

shadyKeystrokes 11mo ago
On the fruits of their hands labor you shall know them..
maest 11mo ago
There may have been some external meddling from a certain international superpower.

rayiner 11mo ago

Iran isn’t a breadbasket exactly, but it has more arable land per person than Germany, Italy, the UK, or Ireland. And vastly more than Japan. It’s relatively temperate now—future warming doesn’t explain its current situation. On top of all that, it has oil! In 1980, just after the revolution, Iran had a PPP GDP per capita above Taiwan, China, and South Korea. And only modestly behind Poland. Today those countries are far ahead. Same for Thailand, Malaysia, and Turkey. The economic sanctions are a symptom not the cause.

alephnerd 11mo ago
Not just PPP. It's nominal GDP per capita was above Taiwan, Turkiye, South Korea, and all of Eastern Europe. If the stuff that happened to Iran in our timeline didn't happened in the 1980s-2000s, it probably could have seen an economic boom comparable to what SK and Taiwan saw in the 1990s - especially becuase the leadership in 1980s South Korea and Taiwan were equally as authoritarian as that in Iran back then. Other similar losers from that era were the DRC, Syria (before the civil war it was roughly on par with Turkiye), the Ivory Coast (it was France's premier financial hub in Franafrique before the civil war), and Pakistan (it's GDP per capita was significantly above China's until the 1990s, and Pakistani advisors helped industrialize significant portions of the Gulf).
- rayiner 11mo ago
  All good points.

cm2012 11mo ago

"economic attack by sanction, cyber attack on energy infrastructure, and lately even kinetic attack from neighbors." They could just stop being at war with Israel any time, it is a pointless choice.

arresin 11mo ago
[flagged]
- dpe82 11mo ago
  Germans committing genocide was not why the US entered the war, though.
- yes_really 11mo ago
  This is a disgusting comment. There exists no parallel here. The nazis engaged in a systematic, colossal campaign to exterminate as many Jewish people as possible. You are saying that this is somehow equivalent to Israel simply existing. Iran became hostile to Israel and to the US in 1979 with the Islamic Revolution. Also, the US entered WWII because of Pearl Harbor, and engaged in a normal war against the Axis. Iran engages in terrorism by financing and arming terrorist groups that perform terrorist attacks on civilians. The US action in WWII defeated the nazis. The actions of the Iranian dictatorship caused deaths and terrors targeted at civilians in other countries and destroyed the lives of its own people in Iran.
  - isr 11mo ago
    [flagged]
    - yes_really 11mo ago
      [flagged]
      - computerthings 11mo ago

FridayoLeary 11mo ago

I completely agree with you. We who wish well on Iranians can only hope the situation is speedily rectified and the regime will finally fall, ending the oppression, want, war and poverty they have inflicted on so many millions of people both within and without their borders. In the meantime i hope it rains.