Trump's art of the deal meets Iran's long memory of foreign exploitation (opens in new tab)

This is not a news report from December 2025. This is the spring of 1891, the opening salvos of the Persian Tobacco Protest. Recognizing that unfettered concessions to foreigners pose a threat to both national sovereignty and their own economic interests, the powerful Shia clergy joined the merchants in an open revolt. It was Iran’s first bitter lesson in what happens when a ruler sells out the nation to ensure his own political survival. It wouldn’t be the last.Iranians know their history we...