Writing this post on March 11, 2026, we are anxious to see how well it will age….we won’t take it down, we’ll just watch it play out.
A country dominating the news these days, Iran poses both a threat and a promise for peace not only in the Middle East but the entire world.
We are reminded of a quote from the fictional movie “Margin Call” (2011), where the C.E.O. John Tuld (Jeremy Irons) explains his role in the company during the crisis portrayed in the movie (the market has just collapsed), talking about the phrase “when the music stops”.
The quote is: “I’m here for one reason and one reason alone. I’m here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now. That’s it. Nothing more. And standing here tonight, I’m afraid that I don’t hear – a – thing. Just… silence.”
Note: it is a shame that the movie is laced with profanity…it really adds nothing of any value, and the plot can stand on its own.
So…when the music stops in Iran…it can be weeks or months away, but it will almost certainly stop….what will Iran look like? What will the Middle East look like? What will the world look like?
We wish we were like the John Tuld character…able to see in to the future, but we are not. We can, however, see some of the possibilities. Some are hopeful, some not.
With Shah waiting in the wings, it seems likely to us that a new government will be formed with him as a leader….but not as a dictator, or so we are promised.
Can democracy flourish, or even survive, in the Middle East? To be sure, there are few countries in the area that offer freedom (Israel being the main exception). Turkey became fairly secular under Kemal Attaturk , but over the past decade has become increasingly autocratic.
Even more important, can Christianity and Islam really co-exist?
Iran offers several places of interest to Catholics, but at what risk? Probably not today…but perhaps soon? When predicting events in the Middle East, we are certainly no John Tuld.