Today’s conflict in Iran is a case study in how radical beliefs can convince people that they are right and everyone else is wrong. The hardline mullahs who have terrorized their own people and the world for 47 years are strangely certain they can create friends by launching missiles and drones into neighboring nations—while destroying their own country from within. Here we see the difference between natural patriotism and a bizarre attraction to martyrdom that seems sensible to the misguided. The main problem we will face with negotiations in the weeks and months ahead as the battles with Iran continue is as clear as day: It is impossible to have productive conversations with zealots who are convinced that God is on their side—and no one else’s. Fanatics are immune to reason and reality, so their defeats are often bloody and Read more