India, April 29 -- Iran may bend in the end but it will not break due to the creek

The headline we have used is a subhead that appears in a recent article in Foreign Affairs magazine on the possibility of a Third Islamic Republic in Iran and on the "war's unintended consequences for Iran, the Middle East, and the global order." Written by Suzanne Maloney, who works at the Brookings Institution, it explores the various dimensions of the war in terms of future gains and losses for the various participants, stakeholders, and mere observers. Our strapline borrows from the first line after the sub-head, which reads, "Although they may bend, Iran's power brokers are unlikely to break."

War, and the hard line that the Iranian leaders adop...