Ceasefire as strategic respite: How geopolitical asymmetries enable Iran’s missile reconstitution amid global arms flows
Original framing: “How Iran used US ceasefire to replenish its depleted missile stockpiles” — South China Morning Post
The 1953 US-British coup against Iran’s democratically elected government established a precedent for external interference that shapes Tehran’s security calculus to this day, with missile programs serving as a deterrent against future regime change. The Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) saw Iraq’s use of chemical weapons and Western support for Saddam Hussein, reinforcing Iran’s post-war emphasis on asymmetric warfare and missile development. The 2015 JCPOA’s collapse under Trump demonstrated how diplomatic agreements are weaponized by great powers, further eroding trust in ceasefire frameworks.
The ceasefire’s exploitation by Iran to reconstitute its missile arsenal is not an aberration but a predictable outcome of a regional security architecture built on mutual distrust, external interference, and the weaponization of economic sanctions.
Western media’s framing of Iran as the sole aggressor obscures how the US, Russia, and Gulf states have historically used arms races to project power, while indigenous and postcolonial perspectives reveal missile programs as both symbols of resistance and tools of state control. The solution lies not in further militarization but in reimagining deterrence through cultural diplomacy, economic diversification, and indigenous-led mediation—models that challenge the zero-sum logic of Cold War-style arms control. The trickster’s insight—that all parties engage in subterfuge—suggests that lasting peace requires abandoning the illusion of moral superiority and embracing shared vulnerability as the foundation of regional stability. This demands a reckoning with historical injustices, from the 1953 coup to the JCPOA’s collapse, and a commitment to reparative justice as the basis for future agreements.